Four dudes. Some amps. Some drums.
Songs about dragons and vikings and giants and shit.
Bang your head.
Break shit. Thorr-Axe is a congregation of four young doombringers hailing from southwestern
Indiana that initially formed as duo back in
2007, and since then, picked up a couple members and released a demo as well as two full length albums.
The band really solidified their sound on their
2011 release,
Wall of
Spears, and have expanded upon that newfound sound with their newest effort,
Gates of
Winter. An unholy amalgam of doom and stoner metal with dashes of thrash and black metal.
Plus it’s a concept
album about
Vikings and
Norse mythology and ice giants and shit.
The grandiose build of
Open The Gate is a swelling, scene setting song. It feels like the trek to the base of the icy mountain, the start of the journey, with battles and frost to come.
The Seer’s
Vision is the following moment, where the bludgeon begins. There is a grand heft to the riffs, coupled with a harsher vocal performance than expected adding a bit of rawness to it. There is a coupling here of the blood and thunder of doom and the shimmering coldness of atmospheric black metal
. The crashing directness of Four Hooves is much more directly doom, although at a much higher tempo. There’s also even tinges of hardcore about it, a feeling that also rears its head in
Mountain Crusher. It is more of the direction that
Neurosis took than anyone like
Sick Of It All, but there’s a definite influence in there somewhere.
Black Flag maybe. Thorr-Axe are definitely not your average sword and shield battle doom band.
The slow, grooving swagger that powers the initial moments of The Forging
Ritual is a particular highlight for me; a lurching riff of low end blues that contorts into a sludgy gallop. Thorr-Axe aren’t a band that seem comfortable in one place, confined within one genre. They mix in elements of doom, sludge and black metal, with dashes of post metal atmospherics. They allow riffs to breathe, crank up the intensity when required, but also have some lush icy moments of vastness that are just sublime. The skull caving
Descent is a good example of the mixing of styles. The crush of doom, the nihilistic bent of sludge and the vocal rawness of black metal meet within five minutes of pure metal. The ghostly intermission is a moment of calm; of tranquillity before the storm of the fourteen minute plus closer
Awakening. This is the piece de resistance here, a titanic slow burner that detonates in a hailstorm of sludge riffs, whilst adding dashes of vintage doom and nasty, angular hardcore thunder. When the glacial, atmospheric black metal parts appear at the end, you realize what a brilliant closer it is.
Gates Of Winter is confident in its quality, and Thorr-Axe show they aren’t afraid to tinker with their formula in order to produce results. Thorr-Axe’s decision to impart the music with more attitude and atmosphere truly pays dividends. At this
point in their careers, Gates of Winter is clearly the band’s high-water mark. Overall, Gates of Winter strikes forth like a toppling mountain of bricks, and makes the listener feel ready to march into battle clad in animal skins and wielding a great big steel sword.
1. Open
The Gates
2. The Seer's Vision
3. Four Hooves
4. Mountain Crusher
5. The Forging Ritual
6. Gates Of Winter
7. Descent
8.
Intermission
9. Awakening
Support Thorr-Axe by purchasing the album here ~ https://thorr-axe.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thorraxedoom/
- published: 18 Jul 2016
- views: 737