Dethrone

Humanity

Written by: EW on 20/08/2013 14:02:55

"Humanity" is the debut solo effort from a young Swedish death/thrash troupe, hardly a novel concept you might say in a world full of The Haunted descendants, but what we actually have is a band who are the very definition of Swedish death/thrash. Dethrone's sound is all over the Björler brothers work from both The Haunted and At the Gates, with more than a dollop of technical involvement from Anata and the speedlust of one of my personal favourites, The Crown, and in many ways it is achieved professionally and wholesomely yet after a number of listens it is still leaving me out in the cold. This ultimately comes down to the safety inherent with their nine compositions and a production job which has smoothed any rough edges to provide what could be viewed as a beginner's introduction to Scandic death/thrash.

That Dethrone can handle themselves sufficiently to pump out aggressive hook-laden metal is without doubt as the guitars marry rhythmic chugging and lead riffs like there's no tomorrow, the bass is a forceful presence and the drumming, though replete with triggers of course, is more conscious of variance than is often heard in these territories. Opener "Dead Eyes Open" touches on the boundaries of melodic black metal in setting a very forceful opener, highlighted by the blastbeats backing Mattias Vestlund's choral shrieks, before leading immediately into the catchy "Blood Red Dawn" and the distinctly Slayer-by-way-of-The-Crown "Deathwish". All acceptable so far, but from "Greed" the highly melodic riffing that was the mainstay of every local band around 2002-2005 enters the fray, determined to prove that sanitised melodic death metal is still an underground force in 2013. The lead riffing within "Greed" takes my mind back to some of the B-league acts of the last decade such as Dimension Zero and Nightrage who ultimately pawned At the Gates' heritage and added nothing new to the genre. I'm afraid I see no better outcome for Dethrone than this based off "Humanity".

Still, in "Towards the Abyss" some of the melodic leads add a deeper sense of ambition than the predictable melo-death rhythm riffs which preceed it and in "Blessed by the Light of Dying" the Crown element rears it head in the opening riff, until that is the Crown's better songwriting abilities leaves Dethrone flailing around with a more predictable remainder to the song. A decent release in many senses but one that might have been better suited to the climate of the last decade than the one we find ourselves in now.

5

Download: Towards the Abyss, Dead Eyes Open
For The Fans Of: The Crown, At the Gates, The Haunted
Listen: Facebook

Release date: 02.03.2013
Self-released

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