For anyone who thinks we’ve been insufficiently faithful to the name of this site in recent days, I have a few things for you this weekend that will set you straight.
As record labels go, I think Throatruiner has to be a short-listed finalist for best label name ever. They have also been putting out some tasty releases, if your taste runs to unstructured violence. Take this one for example. It’s a three-way split with international flavor. The three bands are as follows:
AS WE DRAW •• Described as a French “post-metal” band, their contributions to this split follow up their 2010 album, Lines Breaking Circles. Throatruiner recommends them to fans of Ken Mode, Breach, and Old Man Gloom.
EUGLENA •• A Russian band whose preceding release was an EP called An Anxious Surface. Throatruiner compares their music to that of Buried Inside, Plebeian Grandstand, and Botch.
HEXIS •• This is a Danish band that slathers together hardcore, black metal, and sludge. By coincidence, they were recommended in a recent NCS comment by Old Man Windbreaker. Before contributing to this split, they released a self-titled EP and then a full-length album called XI that debuted last year. Throatruiner recommends them to fans of Celeste, Crowpath, and Blut Aus Nord.
Each of these three bands contributed two songs to the split. I have some quick reactions to them them after the jump, along with a stream of the whole split — which can be downloaded for free or for any price you think is fair.
As We Draw – The two cuts from this band — “Fingers To Point” and “Fingers To Stab” — have a distorted, thick, sludgy undercurrent pierced by shrill feedback and shrieking screamo vocals. The music is marked by variable tempos, unpredictable riffs, surprising melodies, and a pervasively bleak/unhinged atmosphere. They remind me a bit of their countrymen Eryn Non Dae. Discomforting and violent, but cool.
“Fingers To Point”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-01-Fingers-To-Point.mp3|titles=As We Draw – Fingers To Point]“Fingers To Stab”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-02-Fingers-To-Stab.mp3|titles=As We Draw – Fingers To Stab]
Euglena – This band’s songs, “Before After/After the Before” and “Renaissance”, are similar in some respects to those from As We Draw: similar sludgy distortion in the heavy low end (except even more fuzzed-out), similar vein explosion in the vocals. But Euglena have an even more pronounced take-no-prisoners approach — the music relies more on feedback than melody. In fact, the first half of “Before After/After the Before” runs at the pace of cold tar, with one wave of ugly feedback after another and very little structure. The second half accelerates and gains shape, but without losing one bit of ugliness. Extreme, fucked up shit. You could bang your head to some of this if it weren’t already clamped in a crushing vice.
“Before After/After the Before”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-03-Before-After-After-The-Before.mp3|titles=Euglena – Before After-After The Before]“Renaissance”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-04-Renaissance.mp3|titles=Euglena – Renaissance]
Hexis: Based on the description by Throatruiner and Old Man Windbreaker, this was the band who most intrigued me. I stayed intrigued by the music. “Crux” is the longer of the two songs at more than six minutes, and it embodies Hexis’ fusion of styles: veering from blast-beats and cauterizing riffs to glacially slow sludge with funeral-doom style drumming. The whole thing is shot through with massive distortion and the same kind of I’ll-eat-your-face berzerker vocals as the first two bands deliver.
“Nex” clocks in at less than 2 1/2 minutes, and it’s a scary, misanthropic, blackened (or blacked-out) explosion of demonic turmoil.
“Crux”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-05-Crux.mp3|titles=Hexis – Crux]“Nex”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Throatruiner-Records-3-Way-Split-06-Nex.mp3|titles=Hexis – Nex]Now, here are download links for the split:
6 Responses to “A THROATRUINER SPLIT: AS WE DRAW, EUGLENA, AND HEXIS”
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As We Draw also had a double EP titled Background / Frontside in 2009 (which is alright). But, who the heck releases a “double EP”? :/
Throatruiner Records seems cool. Looks like hardcore, metalcore or sludge metal all the way. Not really one’s taste, but probably worth a few listens.
Also, according to the FAQ, it’s just “him”, not “they”.
Maybe he’s like me and can become a they whenever he wants. It’s useful to have multiple personalities.
I’m see drunk in shibuya. Nothing is sacred or safe. Imma make Kirk hammet my pussy doll.
I never would have guessed you were drunk.
People might be more grateful if you went back in time, got him to play something other than the c major scale, and then made him your pussy doll.
Also, how many drunk do you see in Shibuya?
Thanks for writing this, and reminding me about it. I’ve got a few different Throatruiner splits that I downloaded aeons ago, but for whatever reason, have just kind of sat there on my hard drive, unlistened… I’ll fix that very soon.