Despite its somewhat unwieldy title I really enjoyed Italian band Throne Of Molok’s debut album ‘Chtonian A.E.O.N. 1010011010.’ Hell it even arrived with a cardboard cut-out gas mask suggesting cyber terror was about to be unleashed and indeed it lived up to its promise as did the band when they supported Abgott here around that time too. Somewhere along the line it would appear that they snuck a second album out in 2011 and it was an ‘Impulsive Assault’ which regrettably I completely missed. Apparently it only saw the light of day in Italy due to a weak promotion campaign. Thankfully though a brand new one ‘Beat Of Apocalypse with a lurid green cover that made me think of radiation and pollution did find its way to me so I can hear what the band are like after a seven year gap between listens. In this time it would appear that singers changed with U-235 taking over but now he is out and the original screamer Morg Necroripper is back. It’s also quickly evident that the band are as fast and furious as ever, with these 9 anti-human hymns weighing in at a short, sharp and totally Armageddon inducing 25 minutes.
The futuristic assault begins marching at gabba speed for the title track which is scathing and furious along with the alien sounding vocal rasps. This is a real merging of techno, black metal and industrial in the vein of early Aborym, Blacklodge and naturally Mysticum. However it sounds like since the times that these bands were perfecting their craft, technology has caught up making this all the more potent and in the face. Throne Of Molok like starting each track with a slightly different style be it gabba, drum and bass, techno or whatever and then blazing headlong into things with the likes of ‘Something Black’ hitting a big BPM count and flying away at a speed that not even the strongest uppers in the world could have you keeping up with if you attempted to dance along. The programming from K. mega is ever inventive and full of ideas meaning the music never stands still for a second. The glow-stick future rave of ‘at m:ind: inferno’ has a great beat to it and would go down well at a club even if it did confuse a few with the disparate styles meshed within its robotic sounding frame. By comparison with guitars blazing away ‘Tuned By Holocaust’ is a head-banger and a half if you can keep up with it as it thrashes madly away.
‘Sentinel Possessed’ sounds like a machine going wrong and taken over as the title suggests. It literally runs amok causing chaos and confusion as well as maximum devastation along the way. As a whole the album feels like it has set out to destroy the listener and everything around them but the weird thing is that despite the speed and harshness it is easy to get into and in a way quite accessible. Maybe not for everyone I hasten to add but if you like the different styles they are all put together fluidly and the somewhat ambitious play off works very well. I never heard the other singer but the grating rasps of Morg suit the assault well and he is a commanding force adding a devout militancy to the attack. It is slightly surprising therefore that they finish the album with an instrumental ‘Final Output’ but then again I was kind of glad they did as it gives a uninterrupted clarity to the music itself allowing you to really get caught up in its sweep without distraction. It’s all very annoying with all the failed end of the world promises we have been getting lately but if you are waiting for doomsday playing Beat Of Apocalypse may well herald it along that bit quicker!
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply