Customer Reviews

Affiliated With the Suffering

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you love death metal, then you should own this. This album kicks ass and is a true testament to the power of death metal! Everything about this cd is good, no complaints whatsoever, the songs are the perfect mix of brutality and artfulness, the band really knows there stuff when it comes down to it, they can write songs and play there instruments perfectly. As far as sound quality goes, flawless i like the crunch of the guitar sound and the deep bass tone that really adds a distinct heaviness to the album. This album also has extra tracks 3 covers from obituary, massacer, and m.o.d. as a bonus to.

I purchased this album not too long after buying Blood Red Throne's debut album "Monument of Death". I have to say that this new release is a little disappointing. (I could gripe about how this band still sounds like a Vomitory clone, but simply read my review of "Monument of Death" for that particular opinion of mine.) There are primarily two reasons why this album is inferior to the debut: 1) the mixing job was done completely different in terms of production, which makes for a very different listening experience; and 2) the band slowed waaaay down.

I'm rather fickle when it comes to production jobs, so my complaint(s) here some people may find applicable and others may not. This is a rather 'loud' sounding album in terms of how it was recorded, which isn't inherently a bad thing. The problem is that it also sounds like during the normalizing process, it was normalized at a very high volume, meaning that it's slighly 'noisier' than it should be. This kind of problem/difficulty was virtually non-existent on "Monument of Death" which sounded great, so I'm not sure why it was done.

In terms of the speed of this disc overall, it's a lot slower than the debut. It's almost as though the band is going for a slight 'brutal aggro-thrash' edge than speedy death metal. There are still good blasts here and there, but the drumming is nowhere near as complex and is typically not as exciting as it was on the debut album. You won't find songs here such as "Portrait of a Killer" and "Ravenous War Machine". The general approach on this album is a less technical sound combined with slower speed, hence only giving it 3 stars. The 'artwork' is also kind of lame, but I'm just being REALLY picky.

However, despite my rantings there are still excellent songs here such as "Bleeder's Lament", "Mandatory Homicide" and "Razor Jack". The entire album maintains the emotion and attitude of the debut; it's execution simply isn't as superb. The vocals are just as gutteral (Vomitory style) as the debut, and in this release the vocals are given more presence so that's also a good thing.

I still recommend this album to fans of the genre and fans of Blood Red Throne's debut, but "Affiliated with the Suffering" isn't quite up to the expectations created by "Monument of Death".

Blood Red Throne is but one of more than a few groups formed out of the ashes of the immensely influential Norwegian black metallers Emperor, and one of several side projects fronted by guitarist/madman Tchort. Bare in mind that doesn't sound like Emperor -- they are more akin to something of a blend of Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy, Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore, Impaled, and Vomitory. That said, though, the Emperor comparisons will always linger, and the fact of the matter is that an after/side-project is almost never as good as the original one, and Blood Red Throne simply don't stack up against a band of such legendary status (or even Zyklon or Ihsahn, two of the Emperor's other posthumous projects, for that matter). Still, any well-versed metalhead should know any project with Tchort involved does possess a certain level of quality, consistency, and expertise not commonly outdone in the music world today. Thus, while an album like "Affiliated With The Suffering" (which was released in 2003 and re-issued by a different label in ought-six) may hardly qualify as life-changing, it is nothing if not a good, solid platter of raw, gnarly, filth-caked, splatterhouse death metal with heavy thrash influences and undeniable tinges of grindcore and black metal.

On this 47-minute long disc, the band spends most of its time with stop-start death-grind blasts, steady, grumbling bass lines, lumbering rhythms, and solid (if rarely used) melodies. Then Flemming "Mr. Hustler" Gluch's imposing vocals, and some tasty, ripping solos are laid on top of the mix. But the album's main attraction lies in its almighty guitar riffs! In fact, "AWTS" is more than enough proof that there should be absolutely no question as to whether or not Terje Vik Schei (a.k.a. the above-mentioned Tchort) and Daniel "Ded" Olaisen have positively awesome riffing abilities. They lay down one heaping pile of excellent and eminently memorable guitar licks after another. And unlike what many bands seem to be doing nowadays, Blood Red Throne does not let their music get dragged down by being overly technical: Schei and Olaisen often limit their riffs to only a handful of notes (and they are frequently just one or two). As a result, the riffs are always plenty fiery, thrashy, and quite brutal, but they also simultaneously manage to be very catchy, rhythmic, groove-oriented, air-guitar-able, and seemingly tailor made for making the necks of crowds everywhere very sore. (Seriously, a more apt title for this album would have been "Affiliated With The Headbanging.") By using this fairly simplistic playing style, the axemen can pound out the riffage at a quick and efficient pace, too. And one last advantage to it is that it allows the musical arrangements to open up a bit for thoroughly audible bass lines (even if all they do most of the time is follow the guitar leads), and occasionally audible background noises/sound effects (i.e. a few Carcass-ish horror movie samples).

The album opener is called "Unleashing Hell," and it would probably be impossible to think of a better name for it than that. It begins with a spooky clip of someone proclaiming "I wish you were dead/Buried under ground/I wish you all were dead", and then unleashes a bludgeoning deluge of scorching, chugging guitars, blasting drums, and God Dethroned-style vocal rasps on your eardrums. Track two, "Dream of Death," is terrifically evil and skin-crawling on account of its crazed guitar work and memorable vocals (including some wicked, pure black metal shrieks). "Bleeders Lament" boasts fiery, crunching rhythms, a whiplash tempo change, and strong, humming, and throbbing bass lines (which thoroughly fill up the bottom end), and even a decent little bass interlude. "Mandatary Homicide/Death Inc." is an especially catchy number because it is propelled by an irresistibly rhythmic, galloping beat that brings to mind a bull pounding his hoof while he gets ready to charge you. This thrashy gallop is also in the vein of "Enemies of Reality"-era Nevermore, The Haunted, and (of course) At The Gates.

"Razor Jack" and "Chaos Rising!" are both, more-or-less, inexorable blastfests from beginning to end. They are riddled with pounding, Krisiun/Morbid Angel/Hate Eternal/Nile-esque jackhammer-fast blasting that motors along like a speed boat. (The latter tune is also of note for its Deicide-inspired vocals; and the former for its mosh pit-ready staccato guitar hooks and subtle yet startling sound effects of -- what sounds like -- a woman being stabbed to death.) Elsewhere, "Gather the Dead," "Malediction," "Hate Tank" (which was originally performed by the band MOD), and the closing "Deadly Intentions" all barrel out of your speakers and play almost like they are cuts of pure thrash from the Bay Areas heyday in the 1980's. Indeed, with tons of breakneck fast and scaldingly hot, buzzsaw riffage, one has to think the likes of Slayer would nod with approval. Also make sure you check out the good, shout-along-style refrains in the first two of the above-mentioned songs, and the good, screaming guitar solo that pops up in the last one. Other highlights include "Mercy Killings," which when teamed up with the title track, forms a killer one-two punch. These are unquestionably the two most brutal songs to be heard on the whole record (just try to retain consciousness during, say, the "rat-tat-tat" machine-gun hyperblasts in "AWTS.") And finally, "Cryptic Realms" may be a Massacre cover, but since it sounds like industrial-death-thrash hybrid with deep, gore-soaked bellows sprinkled on top, it actually very closely resembles something lifted off of a Brujeria joint.

It is important to note that no one could ever claim that "Affiliated With The Suffering" is flawless, life-changing, or even remotely groundbreaking. To that regard, it should not be filed under the "essential purchase" tab. But it is still a good, solid record, and a worthy listen for all hardcore death-grind aficionados, or anybody, for that matter, who craves excellent guitar riffs.

Blood Red Thorne is just a good death metal band that wont leave you with that pissed off feeling like "Great I just wasted my money on another piece of crap".This is an excellent cd to take a chance with. Unleashing Hell and Bleeders Lament are the icing on this cake. Dig in maggots!

Funny how someone is complaining that this CD is too slow, because I think it's too fast, and welcome the slow parts. The guitar sound is PERFECT...I love the jagged feel of them - perfect production! There's a lot of good on this CD, but the problem I guess is that it's just good, not great...so I can't give it a higher rating.

Live, this band would probably kick some major a**. And when you're in a hateful murderous mood, this is a great CD to listen to...but I just don't think they have enough groove to keep me coming back for more too often (Unlike Carnal Forge). Still..if you're into extreme music, this is a good buy - I dig the sampled parts of people screaming. Haha...very cool. And the beginning into to Razor Jack is almost worth the price of the CD alone.

All in all...a very good CD...3.5 stars. They sound a lot like Kataklsm on steroids - which is a good thing. :-)

So, never heard of the band Blood Red Throne? If you havn't heard their 'Monument of Death' cd, this might be a good cd to pick up first. The best songs on this cd are Gather The Dead and Razor Jack.