Album Type:
Album
Date Released:
10th October 2014
Label:
Witching Hour Productions
Earth Ground –
Track Listing
1. First Day
2. Afterkingdom
3. Sun
4. No Light
5. Second Day
6. Soil
7. Winter’s Bone
8. Last Day
2. Afterkingdom
3. Sun
4. No Light
5. Second Day
6. Soil
7. Winter’s Bone
8. Last Day
Members
M.
– Bass, vocals.
A. – Bass, guitars, noise.
P. – Noise.
A. – Bass, guitars, noise.
P. – Noise.
Review:
One
of my main gripes with modern Black Metal is that many of the artists
choose to abandon weight of sound in favour of something as surface
as ‘necrosound’. It’s all been done, raw aggression doesn’t
need to come from recording quality anymore. Of course, there is
always a time and place for that kind of rigid, tape-quality Black
Metal forged in €400 studio apartments, just like there is always a
time and a place for a can of beer to take the edge off a hard
Monday’s office work. It’s easy to find, it’s easily
digestible, and you’ll probably forget all about it by morning
time. In trying to stand out, bands have become just as communalized
and expendable as the old school death metal they rebelled against.
That’s
why excessive levels of necrosound just doesn’t do it for me
anymore, it’s self-sacrificial, a mere chop and screw so that one’s
music can fit into the back-pockets of the blogger elite. Don’t get
me wrong, I love pulsating noise just as much as the next
moustachioed weirdo, but it’s always refreshing to hear a black
metal band embrace themselves rather than offer themselves up, that’s
what made Black Metal relevant in the first place. That’s why
Thaw’s second full-length, Earth Ground, has made such an
impression on me.
This
is a completely vascular record, veins taut as razor wire, and it
owes itself not only to its obvious Black Metal influences, but also
to the sheer obesity of Sludge that coagulates beneath its ferocity.
Its meticulous production value allows for each instrument to roar
and scream and perform their individual tasks effectively in the
overall scheme of things, and it even harks back to the alpine
majesty offered by bands like Emperor, though without any symphonic
overkill.
The
cavernous bass of ‘First Day’ produces a tension that soon
manifests as the first ravenous blasts of ‘Afterkingdom’, a track
that serves not so much as a taster of things to come, but as a blind
plunge into the depths of what Earth Ground has to offer. ‘Sun’
is an invisible orange grabbing classic, throbbing with the sinister
energy that could only be produced by that colossal, thunderous breed
of guitar riff known to all second-wave Black Metal fans. ‘No
Light’ writhes snake-like throughout, M’s cancerous vox fighting
through the waves of noisome contortions. Thaw are quite vocal about
their position as a noise band, and this self-proclamation is
crystalized in the insane and abrupt murmurings of ‘Second Day’,
a brief excursion into wailing feedback eventually leads to ‘Soil’,
yet another, and I’m raking my eyes with one hand as I type these
words, “frost-bitten” assault on the senses.
Driven
by a striking percussion that drags the boots of this track through
heavy snow, ‘Winter’s Bone’ is the most obvious piece of
experimentation on Earth Ground, aided by spectral electronics and
string conjured miasma. Album closer ‘Last Day’ arrives solemnly
before totally combusting into heavy, knuckle-dragging chaos that
crawls on its belly from the primordial soup and hardens as one final
imposing riff.
I
do not give bad reviews, I simply find that slating a band, no matter
how terrible they are, is lazy and serves no one. You may as well be
wiping your arse with a child’s finger painting. As such, I’ve
spent more time describing what I hear than whether I like it or not.
With Earth Ground, I can honestly say that every minute of this
record was a pleasure, and it’s a slab of malevolence that everyone
should kneel before at least once.
Words
by Liam Doyle
Thanks
to Witching Hour Productions for the promo. Earth Ground is available
to buy now.
For
more information
