Metal Storm logo
Blood Red Throne - Union Of Flesh And Machine review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
7.7

52 users:
7.67
Band: Blood Red Throne
Album: Union Of Flesh And Machine
Release date: July 2016


01. Revocation Of Humankind
02. Proselyte Virus
03. Patriotic Hatred
04. Homicidal Ecstacy
05. Martyrized
06. Union Of Flesh And Machine
07. Legacy Of Greed
08. Exposed Mutation
09. Primal Recoil
10. Leather Rebel [Judas Priest cover]
11. Mary Whispers Of Death

Basically Just Death Metal?: now with 100% more death metal.

Blood Red Throne reminds me a lot of Dew-Scented, a personal favorite and one of the standards by which I tend to measure death and death/thrash: the idea behind a song comes secondary to the brutality with which that song can be played. Also, this kind of sounds like Dew-Scented, so there's that. Union Of Flesh And Machine does produce some interesting riff ideas, but this album unquestioningly prizes sound over substance. What a powerful sound it is, though - only the most Swedish of guitar tones, utterly guttural growls, and a lethal precision that makes Union Of Flesh And Machine feel exactly like what the title describes. Everything about Union Of Flesh And Machine is rapid-fire, calculated, and precise. The riffs jump back and forth between winding, organic passages and blocky, crushing heaps of distortion; every song bristles with furious energy that makes the album a roaring freight train.

This is the kind of thing I love to come back to after a stressful day. You don't need to waste any time in contemplation or analysis to determine the goal of the album; it's just an unstoppable wall of sound, a brutal, mechanical onslaught of harsh tones, sharp licks, and barreling battalions of battery. Maybe you won't remember any of these songs five minutes after you've moved on to the next album (although "Martyrized" and "Patriotic Hatred" in particular are pretty badass), but who cares? Melodies are for the weak. Death metal deals in pain. All a riff has to do is carry you to the morgue and back. It doesn't have to take you to dinner or bake you cookies or give you anything to sing along to.

Union Of Flesh And Machine definitely has enough new ideas to make it interesting the first time around, but at its heart, this album doesn't venture beyond a particular kind of death metal that we've all heard many times before. For the most part, the songs kind of run in and out of each other. I don't hold this quality against the album at all, since as far as pure atmosphere goes, Union is a powerful and dominating presence that I'd be perfectly happy listening to over and over again, and that quality is worth a lot of points. Union may be basically just death metal, but that was never a bad thing.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Production: 8





Written on 20.10.2016 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct.


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 191 users
20.10.2016 - 02:37
Susan
Smeghead
DUDE. YOU CRACK ME UP

but who cares? Melodies are for the weak. Death metal deals in pain. All a riff has to do is carry you to the morgue and back. It doesn't have to take you to dinner or bake you cookies or give you anything to sing along to.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
Loading...
20.10.2016 - 07:36
Malignar

Great quote reviewer, take it to heart. Finally a quote that sums up my thoughts on this website as a whole. Everything has to be nuanced and cover 10 sub categories of metal to be cool...very hipster.

On Blood Red Throne, they have been disappointing for about a decade. Some pretty good riffs on this one, but rarely like Altered Genesis level.
Loading...
20.10.2016 - 09:10
Coconut Racecar

"This is the kind of thing I love to come back to after a stressful day. You don't need to waste any time in contemplation or analysis to determine the goal of the album; it's just an unstoppable wall of sound, a brutal, mechanical onslaught of harsh tones, sharp licks, and barreling battalions of battery. Maybe you won't remember any of these songs five minutes after you've moved on to the next album (although "Martyrized" and "Patriotic Hatred" in particular are pretty badass), but who cares?"

This is exactly how I feel about slam and goregrind. I don't listen to it with a standard or criticism. I listen to it because I just like to... It makes me feel good and that's it. Some bands have their sound more fleshed out than others and I recognize the differences but to me, as long as it's got a personality, I'm probably going to like it.

Will check this album out just because you've unintentionally described how I feel about my favorite genres. I don't recall liking Blood Red Throne a whole lot but opinions can change!
Loading...
20.10.2016 - 11:05
Cy Nide

I'm about halfway through the album and I gotta say your review is spot on. Nothing ground breaking or revolutionary here but definitely a fun, enjoyable listen.
A good album to kick off the day first thing in the morning.
Loading...
20.10.2016 - 11:11
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by Coconut Racecar on 20.10.2016 at 09:10


This is exactly how I feel about slam and goregrind. I don't listen to it with a standard or criticism.


Then again, slam and goregrind doesn't get much castigation.

I don't think many fans gives a shit about pulling off unnecessarily weak links out of goregrind albums as majority listens for "fun play". The only areas where most of slam and goregrinds records been targeted is of comparisons, frequent question mark over monopolistic songwriting and musical structure, drumming and even filtering too much of "groove" into it. Other than that, nothing much could be found in it.
Loading...
20.10.2016 - 18:18
Rating: 8
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Written by Susan on 20.10.2016 at 02:37

DUDE. YOU CRACK ME UP

but who cares? Melodies are for the weak. Death metal deals in pain. All a riff has to do is carry you to the morgue and back. It doesn't have to take you to dinner or bake you cookies or give you anything to sing along to.

----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
Loading...
22.10.2016 - 16:04
3rdWorld
China was a neat
Nice fun review. Never heard Dew-scented though but I love BRT including their last album. They are grinding and groovy fun death metal. Think I wasn't tracking this. So definitely will give this a listen soon.
Loading...

Hits total: 7552 | This month: 11