Reviews list for Thrawsunblat - Metachthonia (2016)

Thrawsunblat: perhaps my best discovery of 2016

I'd been meaning to check these guys out for the longest time because of the Woods of Ypres connection. This album coming out finally gave me reason to.

When David Gold died, many of the remaining band members went on to form Thrawsunblat. I consider this band a true spiritual successor to Woods of Ypres. Although David Gold is gone, Thrawsunblat vocalist Joel Violette has a similar throaty rasp to his harsh vocal tone and a wistful baritone clean singing voice (although he uses the latter much less than David). Thrawsunblat essentially eschews Woods' occasionally self-indulgent gothic and doom metal tendencies and presents a more focused Melodic Folk/Black Metal attack, but the spirit of the original band is still firmly present in the passion and delivery, as well as the introspective lyrics that reflect on one's relation to place, nature, and fellow man.

In the end, Metachthonia comes off as a more polished and sophisticated version of what Woods of Ypres were going for on their most straightforward (genre-wise) release, their debut album/EP.  And the results are excellent beyond my expectation. Much pagan, very folk. It's a little samey in that there's not much variety in terms of overall soundscape, but it's not a long album so that's not a huge detractor. Each song - although they're long - has at least one particularly memorable section to distinguish it from the others. The whole album keeps me interested throughout and leaves me satisfied at the end.

Great music for winter strolls through the woods. Still their most consistent album.