Treating the rules of mainstream song composition like a wood chipper treats a log, Wild Throne introduced themselves to the UK this year with an addictive EP that suggested a bizarro supergroup of The Darkness, Mastodon and The Defiled. With Harvest Of Darkness, these audacious metallers have exceeded the EP’s titillating promise, administering an unrelenting siege of chaotic time signatures, blazing thrash riffage and the glass-shattering howls of Josh Holland.
Others have synthesised various genres into bracing hybrids, but none have approached the scale and ambition of belters like the title track or the feverishly intense Fear Yourself. Though reference points are scarce, the Mars Volta spring to mind, yet where that band favoured contrasts between soft interludes and concussive choruses, Wild Throne maintain a blistering pace for nearly the whole ride, save for a detour into the arching psychedelic caverns of Lone Lust. Harvest Of Darkness delivers an exhilarating heavy metal experience, as affecting as it is unique.
