Hostilities resume for Thorium.
Active since 1997, the band comprising Michael H. Andersen (vocals, Empire Drowns, A Sun Traverse), Jens Peter Storm (guitar, Pitch Black, ex-Dominus), Jesper Nielsen (bass, My Empty Room), Daniel Preisler Larsen (drums, Tons) and Jose Cruz (guitar, Pitch Black) unveil The Bastard, their sixth album, via Emanzipation Productions.
The album was recorded by Michael H. Andersen on vocals, Jesper Nielsen on bass, as well as Rogga Johansson (Down Among the Dead Men, Stass, Furnace, Massacre, Megascavenger, Ribspreader…) on guitars and Thomas Ohlsson (Stass, ex-The Project Hate MCMXCIX) on drums, except for the track Mesmerize, where they called on Henrik “Heinz” Bastrup Jacobsen (Bloodgutter, ex-HateSphere). Solos are by Jens Peter Storm, Jose Cruz and Jonas Lindblood (Puteraeon).
The musicians attack with Eclipsed, a pure product of Swedish Death with aggressive riffs that nonetheless offer us a few catchy melodies while the vocalist goes wild. The pace slows slightly with Over The Mountains, but there are a few jerky bursts of energy to maintain the track’s intensity, which doesn’t hesitate to offer some heady leads as on Nightside Serenade, where melancholic parts meet rage and higher vocal parts reinforce the intensity of the choruses. The sound gets heavier with Pest, a new stirring composition developing the Dane’s thicker approach, while leaving room for the lead guitar, before continuing in the oppressive vein with Not Equals, which offers ominous tones with its dissonant guitars hatching in waves of power to crush us. It All Comes Back To Me Now follows with a return to visceral screams, as on the choruses, which become as wild as they are haunting, in contrast to Underground, which returns to the basics of the band’s music, offering a lesson in raw efficiency with relatively simple, yet devastating riffs. Infamy opens with a tortured and Heavy-influenced solo, but the band quickly returns to their greasy ultra-saturated roots, creating an interesting contrast before returning to the angst on Legacy Of The Forgotten, which features more irregular patterns. The two voices take it in turns to bring the rhythmics to life, before Mesmerize adopts hints of Thrash to complete the furious base, thus closing the album with a slightly different touch.
The Bastard allows Thorium to continue on its Death Metal path. With the musicians’ expertise, the band can only offer an aggressive yet melodious sound in the purest Old School tradition!
85/100