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DROUTH “The Teeth Of Time”
DROUTH “The Teeth Of Time”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Here’s some vicious but varied black metal with an epic feel, straight outta Portland, Oregon. If memory serves me correctly, previous DROUTH material leaned more in a death metal direction. On “The Teeth Of Time”, there’s no doubt they’ve swung more towards the black side of the ledger. But there’s a progressive approach to the material that keeps you on your toes and anticipating what might come next.
“Hurl Your Thunderbolt Even Unto Death” almost starts like a post-metal song with some subdued jangle. Fear not, the thunderbolt is not long in coming; fast licks and troll-like rasps soon appear. The track is rooted in trebly Norse vibes, but you can detect something almost AGALLOCH-like in the melodies. This one benefits from multiple listens. In contrast, “False Grail” is a rough-shouldered brute of a song. This is where death metal traces are discernible...it’s brutal but nimble!
DROUTH really excels with the epic title track. They come at you with a veritable blizzard of riffs and tempo changes, all of them ass-kicking. This will wind up being one of my favorite tracks of the year. If you want a slice of really progressive black metal, this is it. “Through A Glass Darkly” brings more of a jangly, Gothic ambience. This is probably the track I liked the least. But the album ends strong with the ten-minute plus “Exult, Ye Flagellant” and you might just feel like you’ve been scourged with a barbed wire whip by the time this is done. It gets off to a doomy start, then gathers increasing velocity as it rolls down hill. Another cut that you should probably listen to carefully more than once.
Not much to complain about here. Think of a more violent ENSLAVED with keyboard and jazzy bits excised and you’ll be bitten by “The Teeth Of Time”.
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