Thra announce their debut album.
Following their two EPs and demo, the American band born in 2016 from the hands of Robert Wolfe (guitar/vocals), Zach Nixon-Sandberg (bass/vocals), Matt Marquette (guitar) and Grey Smith (drums) collaborates with Translation Loss Records for the release of Forged in Chaotic Spew.
Flame Lurker is the first track to crush us under its wave of dark suffocating saturation, letting vocal parts’ Death Metal influences join the catchy rhythm’s darkness before it becomes more energetic to join the noisy final, followed by Fracture and its heavy dissonance. The tempo remains relatively slow, allowing the band to nail us to the ground with each jerky strike which leads into Terror Vessel Pt. 1, a frightening, oppressive interlude that plays on regular, unfamiliar sounds before letting Drag return to heavy aggressive riffs. Some parts feed on raw Old School patterns, letting blast cohabit with saturation, but the track remains fairly short, and it slowly fades out before Blistering Eternity takes its place, injecting Black Metal influences into its suffocating mix. The track’s length allows the band to develop the dissonant hazy parts before returning to driving riffs before Vesuvian allows us a minute’s respite in the company of ominous tones joining Primordial Engorgement, a composition drawing on the greasiest, most saturated influences to create an unfathomable block of abrasive darkness. Slowness and explosive parts take turns to punctuate the track, which leaves us after some percussion on Cosmic Scourge and its heady harmonics appearing from time to time over an irregular, greasy rhythm. The track ends with chaotic leads, before Terror Vessel Pt. 2 closes the album with a desolate, apocalyptic soundtrack of eerie samples.
If you’re not accustomed to this permanent feeling of unease between Death, Sludge and dark influences, Forged in Chaotic Spew will be one of the worst moments of your life. Yet Thra‘s mastery of their art is perfect, and they’re sure to draw the chosen few into their abyss.
80/100