“The creeping regularity of life has toppled many; for some, it’s the barrel of the next coffee-fueled third shift staring them down; for others, it’s another dreary adventure in cubeland. For me, it’s every death metal band that I’ve never heard of from Southern Europe.” South of the blunder.
“Antioch, the last album from Sweden’s Throne of Heresy, proved little more than its own existence. The “I riff therefore I am” approach to music did little to impress, and despite good pacing and a few fun songs, It was brought down by an uninteresting Swedeath sound and even more uninteresting boilerplate lyrics. Having thus consigned Throne of Heresy to the ignominy of the 2.5, I found myself not terribly interested in listening to their latest. Yet in my supreme magnanimity, I decided to give the band another chance with Decameron, and well I should have.” When Kronos plays a game of thrones, things get brvtal.
“I have a long standing joke with friends that about fifty percent of death metal bands out there derive their identity with respect to the phrases “Lovecraftian horror” and “anti-Christian,” and Throne of Heresy isn’t out to prove me wrong. So find a bucket, because Antioch is the perfect chance to revisit a favorite conceit of mine; the album review as a drinking game.” Put on your drinking shoes and pull up your pants – we’re about to get our mead on.
