Review by Carl on May 4, 2025.

Throneum exude old school passion and intent, no one can argue with that. These guys have sold their souls to blackened extremity long ago and are running with it to this day, much to their credit, by the way.

Throneum combines the forces of early Morbid Angel riffing and leads, Venom stomp, Hellhammer crawl, and Sodom velocity, and molds it into mostly concise chunks of pitch-black oozing metal. The songs make use of battering Beherit frenzy alternating with punishing doomed-out dirges and German thrash-fueled accelerations, with the gruff dual vocals adding some extra flair to the bubbling black concoction. The songs are indeed very varied when compared to each other, and it is clearly noticeable that the band does not construct their compositions with a certain formula in mind, the only consistency being the dark old school vibe the music is steeped in. At times, the music takes the form of a primarily midtempo thrashing beast like "Oppose the Usurpers", other times it brims with demented velocity and heretic frenzy like "Flammable Doom", and sometimes it creeps on in an unsettling way like the title track or the instrumental "Baptism". Throughout, we get served blazing guitar leads in the way such as Trey Azagthoth has forgotten to do long ago, as well as copious amounts of dark atmospheres absolutely pervading the old school metal offered up. Can't get this stuff any more unfiltered and uncompromisingly true than this, I'll tell you that much.

Music like this asks for a production that needs to be almost symbiotic with it in approach and atmosphere, and lo and behold, that is exactly what is the case here on "The Unholy Ones". The sound mix gives the music the necessary power to convincingly come across without problem, while still maintaining a natural, suitably old school vibe throughout. The balance between the different instruments is near perfect for this sort of ancient black/death/thrash metal, establishing the necessary dark atmosphere needed for the music to make its desired impact without fail.

If there's one word needed to effectively describe this EP, it would be 'solid'. Both the music and the atmosphere it exudes throughout are of a thoroughly fitting kind, making clear any intent the band has right from the get-go. In a time where so many are reaching for the 'old school metal' vibe, Throneum are one of those that don't even need to reach for it. They simply embody old school metal, simple as that.

Rating: 8 out of 10