Throne Pestilent Dawn

Throne Holds An Evil Intent Far "Beyond Malice" (Early Track Stream)


There’s nothing like a crunchy, staccato intro to kick off some completely wild death metal, is there? By my estimation, Throne has allocated roughly the first four seconds of “Beyond Malice” to such a device, the tightly-clumped chunks counting off a deceptively slow rhythm to frame the swirling madness beyond. After that four seconds, all bets are off: the Michigan quartet (joined by Clint Franklin of Recorrupter as a guest vocal appearance on this track) rip through a gauntlet of death and black metal bursting at the seams with menace. We’re premiering the track now, off their upcoming album Pestilent Dawn:

Blackened veins of melody shine through Throne’s uncompromising death metal like a seam of coldly glittering silver encased in stone. At the core is a granite onslaught that, simply put, sounds like hell: weighty guitars are shored up by a raucous bass tone screaming underneath, and tightly-controlled drums stop and start like diabolical clockwork. There’s also a captivating gleam, however: the tension built by chugging riffs and exacting drums is decanted into layered tremolo soundscapes that barely seem achievable with mere guitars.

The end of the song is perhaps my favorite part: the full-tilt charge breaks down to a crawl, hurling listeners into a grim void. It seems like a great time for a guitar solo and some extra heavy drum fills — and, indeed, that’s what’s delivered. That hits on a recurring theme across the album: Throne has no shortage of tools in their arsenal on this album and the expertise of skilled torturers in where to apply them. Black and death metal, on their own, hold enormous potential and similarly enormous room for error (and boredom), but Pestilent Dawn is a vile and captivating monolith that combines the two.

From guitarist/vocalist Nathan:

We tried to match the feel of the song with the lyrics which are about a hatred beyond anyone’s comprehension. A dark and disturbed soul that despises life to the fullest extent and seeks to end others lives with its own inner hatred. Musically, the song was influenced by a lot of Suffocation, Belphegor and some slam elements.

Pestilent Dawn releases on April 9th, 2021 via Redefining Darkness Records.