Heroes Destroyed
Throes
Relapse Records
On first listen, ‘Throes’ by Hero Destroyed didn’t grab me at all. Seemed a bit flat – the image of a bearded man in a Slayer t-shirt shouting at me over some chugga-chug riffs doesn’t appeal. After a few listens though, it’s as if a switch clicks in your brain – you suddenly see the attraction and pretty soon you’re fist pumping for all your worth, whilst violently headbanging into your desk/steering wheel/girlfriend’s face.
The drumming on this record is superb, falling somewhere between the jerking scatter of Dillinger Escape Plan and the heavy-handed dread of Mudvayne’s double-bass pound. ‘That’s An Axe’ is storming opener, writhing like some fidgeting child, refusing to pose for a family portrait – squirming and squealing with rage and frustrated excitement, whilst ‘Iron Lion’ is a stocky barrage of Botch-style riffage, sprawling thick tangled notes over the guttural drum beats and the enraged vocal below. The jazzy, math-mix up adds some delightfully confusing scrawl. The stop-start nature on ‘Army of Draccoons’ is a lurching stumble of hardcore-meets-heavy rock debauchery, falling over itself as it staggers between Hope Conspiracy ferocity and the raucous rampage of rainydayfuckparade metal. ‘Minion’ is a nasty, caustic track of dense metallic noise layered by scathing guitar jolts and growling vocal taunts. No disservice to Hero Destroyed’s vocalist, but the winding instrumental that is ‘Cerebus’ is perhaps one of the best tracks on this record. It’s a gluttonous gorge of slow, crunching riffs that shift with a distinctive stoner-rock meets prog groove; an ambitious step away from the metalcore style of the previous material on offer. ‘Winterbasket Splinter’ is a brutal salvo of rushed hardcore chattering and squealing guitar segments that churn and ride between the tappier moments and the unremitting percussion.
‘Throes’ is a competent slice of modern metallic hardcore, that fans of Botch, Dillinger, and Poison The Well should seek out immediately.
Buy this album from AMAZON
Review by Ross Macdonald
