TECHNICAL MUSIC REVIEW
I stumbled across this band recently and figured I’d spread the musical love about these dudes. They’re a 3 piece instrumental groove/death metal band from Michigan. First thing that hit me is how creepy the music is and compliments the crazy album cover almost makes you feel like you’re in a legit mental institution (that’s not a diss I love music that omits unusual emotions or some sort of eeriness). There’s some dissonance spread throughout the album and some unusual rhythms as well. There is some Coma Cluster Void to this album the more you listen to this album….oh wait, that’s because Chris Burrows left Thoren and JOINED Coma after Brennenburg was released! Now, the rest is history.
For all the speed freaks out there….gonna have to say this album has a slower pace for the most part. I will have to admit if you played this album on Halloween, it would fit in perfectly. The band portrays such a dark emotion it’s like the darkness follows them. Thoren is a breath of fresh air in the instrumental world in the sense that they’re an extreme band that also plays slower. The only two bands off the top of my head that are similar are Alluvial (Keith Merrow & Wes Hauch extravaganza) and Russian instru-death metallers Dark Matter Secret (with plenty of progressive influence as well). There’s some great guitar work and rhythm throughout the album. The guitar leads are very tasty, and the chemistry is undeniable between the bass and drums.
According to a recent Facebook post by the band….
“A little over a year ago Thoren released Brennenburg, our most ambitious release up to that point. Today we uploaded a new mix (thanks to the inimitable John Strieder of Magma Studios & Coma Cluster Void) of the record to our bandcamp, which you can listen to here.
If you already bought the album you can download the new mix on your bandcamp purchases page.
In other news we have a new single coming out, entitled Mauzur, (featuring Christopher Burrows on drums) that should drop in a month or so. The follow up record, entitled Gwarth, (featuring both Alex Cohen and Kenny Grohowski on drums) is tentatively scheduled to be released in the months following.
So what is gathered from that message…….the follow up to Brennenburg is recorded, holy crap okay. But wait……they already have a material to the followup ready to the album that IS NOT EVEN RELEASED YET?!? Why not make it a double album? Honestly these guys rip and should be on your radar since extreme metal isn’t very notable right now in the instrumental world. Hopefully Thoren can pave the way for more extreme bands in the instrumental realms.
Originally published on Technical Music Review. Republished with permission.
