If you want to encounter proper Nordic black metal then you should look no further than Throne of Katarsis.
Crown the Lost: Blind Faith Loyalty
Imagine a bunch of Philadelphia based thrashers on an Italian label doing music that rises above the new wave of American, thrash-by-the-numbers merchant. These guys are paying homage to their heroes by taking the music and adding their own twist to it.
The first thing that strikes me is that instead of going for a grunter or a screamer as a vocalist, they went for a guy who sounds like Paul Stead of UK based AOR band Sacred Heart. No really, Chris Renaldi can actually sing instead of just blast the words. This adds a whole ‘nother dimensions to their thrashtastic output. For once it seems as if the band’s vocalist wasn’t an afterthought.
As a result between the solos and hammering back-end you have songs that have consistency and are catchy and memorable. This lot seems to have remembered that the most successful thrashers actually wrote proper songs that you could sing along to as you headband along to. Kudos to Cruz del Sur for grabbing this band that are trying to produce some decent thrashy metal that actually involves song-writing.
I would seek this lot out if you like your thrash with a bit of nuance. If any of the new breed deserve to break out into the mainstream this lot are certainly one.
Ensoph: Rex Mundi X-lle
The name is the first clue that this ain’t gonna be your normal metal band. This lot play what is best described as gothic, avant-gard, industrial-twinged, rather odd metal. This bunch make Quebec’s Voivod sound like nothing more than a French talking Rush. The lazy would say they are a heavier Marilyn Manson, but that would be doing them a dire disservice. These guys are post-apocalyptic noise merchants that would not sound out of place on the up-coming massively multiplayer online role-playing game Fallen Earth.
The band deliberately set out to be unclassifiable in anything less than the vaguest terms. They are nothing if not original in extremis. Disturbing, beautiful, and catchy all at the same time, it probably will come to no one’s surprise that they are Italian. There is something oddly Latin and ancient about their music, besides a few titles.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Imagine a bunch of Philadelphia based thrashers[Crown the Lost] on an Italian label doing music that rises above the new wave of American, thrash-by-the-numbers merchant.
This doesn't sound like Thrash in the least! And Chris Renaldi sounds like a bad rip off of the almightySteve Grimmett.
These guys are paying homage to their heroes by taking the music and adding their own twist to it.
First off, Anthrax had the operatic singer back in the day so this isn't a "twist". Second, this isn't thrash...Like I said. It sounds like the faster modern version of Power Metal like Dragonforce,etc..