Hear Throes' new album In The Hands Of An Angry God now, as the band take you through their nightmare, track by track…
Throes are one of the most heavy, bleak, lightless doom bands on Earth. As they admit themselves, they thrive on this darkness, turning it into some of the most suffocating doom to emerge in 2019. Ahead of their awesome new album, In The Hands Of An Angry God, released on Friday July 26 through Holy Roar, you can hear the whole thing in all its misanthropic glory right now, as the band themselves explain the meaning behind their brilliant outpouring of misery…
Bad Meat
Morgan Mechling (drums): "For me, personally, this is one of the songs that I initially thought we could have been swapped out with one of the other songs that didn’t make the full-length. It was only after we tracked the album that we thought that it would be a great opener. My favourite parts about this song would be the syncopated vocal pattern at the beginning of the track, and the part where I use my bell during the pauses in the transition that follows the intro section."
They Never Spoke
Tyler Squire (vocals): "They Never Spoke was one of the first songs where we experimented with a really low tuning. I had originally written a messy, stoney riff that didn’t really gel with the rest of our music, but from there the rest of the guys simplified that part and structured it into what became the current iteration of the track."
Nothing New
Kasey Richardson (guitar): "This is a track that I feel influenced the tone of the record a lot during the writing process. It was the first song we wrote in a tuning that we predominantly used throughout the record. This was a catalyst for that 'Grumpy' sound that has been thrown around quite a bit for this record. By tuning lower, the grump was upped, and I think it provided a creative reinvigoration for us. The hammer on/slide guitar parts give this song a real cool groove that has always made me enjoy playing this song. I really like Morgan’s drumming throughout this song. The combinations of his hard-hitting accents coupled with some D-beat inspired bits just hit me in the feel-goods. This song was finished when Phil brought up the idea of adding an outro, shortly before we went into the studio. Initially I think there was some resistance, but ultimately it was a great addition and gave the song an appropriate denouement."
Derelict
Bryce Kresge (bass): "This is my favourite song to play live. It's just so gnarly. If I remember right, Kasey came up with the bones of the main riff, and Phil took it and added a little extra to it, to put some syncopation in the part. When they brought that idea to our rehearsal space, I had the idea of taking that dissonant riff and slowly turning it to a consonant part, where we all slowly drift out of tune from each other but eventually end up on the same chords. From there, Phil and Kasey started expanding on that idea with different lead guitar ideas. Even if this were a one-riff song, it would have still been heavy as fuck, but what those two ended up working out for the middle section of the song was something that had some really undeniable dynamic ideas, which really elevated the initial concept to something totally different and special."
From Their Nails
Phil Davis (guitar): "Lyrically, this was originally a poem I had shared with Tyler. I was taking a Geology class in college and I had one of those 'I am so insignificant compared to the universe' moments . As far as the song goes, there were riffs that we had messed around with for a bit, but put on the back burner while working on other songs. When we came back to them, I remember that the structuring process was extremely smooth; this song came together in a matter of only a couple sessions."
Carrion
Morgan: "This is the last song we finished before we left to to Salt Lake City to track the 14 songs we had (nine of which made the full-length). We had been working on it for a year or so, writing a bunch, not liking parts of it, and then taking a break from it - re-writing and scrapping parts throughout. We ended up writing a vocal section in the studio with more a spoken word approach, where all three vocalist in the band sang lyrics in the round, with each person starting the phrase at different points to become an indiscernible cycle. I really don’t play many straight-up double bass parts, but it felt necessary in few sections of this song. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out after tracking the song."
Disillusion
Phil: "The first time I performed the vocals for this song in its entirety was in the studio. It was extremely nerve-wracking, especially considering that I was recovering from a nasty throat condition that left me almost zero time to condition myself before we went to the studio. Vocally, the recording process for this track felt like an uphill battle - the style was pretty far out of our comfort zone, and we had only worked out the vocals shortly before entering the studio."
Ruin
Tyler: "This song was written during the winter, and I think it really reflects the often oppressive and gloomy feeling of that time, for where we live. Hardly seeing the sun for weeks on end can definitely mess with you, and I think that contributed to the bleak nature of the track. I had a heavy hand in writing most of the guitar parts for this song, excluding the ending section, and structuring this song was rather effortless. We really tried to do something different for this one."
Fang
Kasey: "Fang is what happens when we decide to throw a couple of badass guitar parts together and don’t over think it. This record took over three years to write, with Fang taking up maybe two or three practices at the most to structure. This song never lost the initial feeling it gave me when we started riffing on the parts. I think it's natural to try and make something 'better', but in this case, I feel Fang is perfect for what it is. I really wanted this track to end the record because it’s the exact opposite of what every record I’ve ever played on does. Usually bands place the heaviest, most grandiose, most imposing ending to a record ever at the end. Fang is the exact opposite. It’s striking, apparent in its intentions, and if you’re not a wimp you’ll probably be into it."
Throes' new album is released July 26 through Holy Roar Records.
