Back to Thorium’s hell.
In 2026, JP (guitar, Pitch Black, ex-Dominus), Jose Cruz (guitar, Pitch Black), Daniel (drums, Tons), Jesper Nielsen (bass, My Empty Room), and MHA (vocals, Empire Drowns, Withering Surface) return for their seventh album, Suburban Rot, once again in partnership with Emanzipation Productions.
From the very first seconds of Abra Macabre, the opening track, the band reminds us that while their Death Metal may be fairly melodic, it remains dark and uncompromising, accelerating at its own pace to deliver furious vocal passages while the rhythm section rages on. No one will be surprised if I say it didn’t take me long to start headbanging, just as on Endless Disgust, which immediately showcases its energetic jerky approach sometimes tempered by a few more accessible passages but always remaining quite virulent until Open Wounds comes along to crush us in turn. There’s a great deal of diversity on this track, which shifts from dissonant harmonics to blast beats in the blink of an eye while making use of impressive breaks for a heavier finale before MG42’s introductive sample, a track with obvious military influences. The rhythm section doesn’t take long to hit us with full force and at a brisk pace, embodying all the hallmarks of superbly crafted Old School Death Metal with unapologetic aggression that nevertheless retains a catchy, groovy edge, much like title track Suburban Rot, which descends upon us without warning and knocks us out with its relentless pounding. The choruses are far more piercing in every way, and the infectious contrast develops naturally before giving way to Shelter, a track that’s fairly short like its predecessor but seems to go easy on us at first, featuring catchy patterns before finally unleashing its richer, livelier sounds. We move on to The Collector, the album’s longest track, which remains fairly restrained while offering interesting riffing coupled with an unsettling edge that we’ll also find in the intro to Bring The Children To Me, transformed into a dissonant false sense of calm that intensifies as the track progresses, particularly thanks to the chorus, which creates an even more harrowing break. The massive groove returns on The Undead, a track that borrows heavily from Death’n’Roll and Death/Doom to create heavy yet relatively catchy sounds, then the album concludes with Crucified which picks up the pace once and for all and delivers marked aggression coupled with hellish touches that culminate in an epic charge right through to the final.
It probably won’t come as a surprise to you when I say that Thorium is slowly but surely establishing itself as a staple of the Danish death metal scene! With nearly thirty years of experience under their belt, the band has everything it takes to make Suburban Rot a must-have in their discography!
85/100
