This Gift Is A Curse - A Throne of Ash

 Ascending the house Man built. 

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on April 15th 2021) 

Ever since their inception, This Gift Is A Curse has been intent on releasing the most intense music they could possibly make. From the more hardcore influenced trappings of their earliest output to the excellent All Hail the Swinelord, the band has been exploring different aspects of their sound with each release. 2019's A Throne of Ash was my introduction to the band, its unbridled rage being something new to me at the time, opening my eyes to another intense variant of black metal.
Following a short introductory track, the band pulls all the stops and hits the listener with "Blood Is My Harvest". It's a vicious song to properly kick things off with, in no small part due to the band members' performances. The sheer ferocity on display is one of this album's greatest strengths, and it truly makes this band stand out among their peers. Though that doesn't mean they don't know when to switch gears, as the track slows down at 3:18, with a slow riff taking center stage, supported by a tremolo riff in the background. "Thresholds" is the other notable song in the first third, offering a change of pace, with stomping mid-tempo grooves counterbalancing the frosty tremolo passages.
The midsection houses some of the album's highlights in "Monuments for Dead Gods" and "Wolvking". The former of the two is a longer atmospheric piece that ebbs and flows between sludgy, bass driven grooves and more dissonant riffing. Notable moments here include the bass riff at 2:42 and the swelling instrumental at 4:17. "Wolvking" on the other hand picks up the pace again, offering more high speed chaos, contrasting the previous track’s melancholy nature. The highlights of this song are without a doubt the stop-start section at 2:54, as well as the pummeling double bass at 3:52.
The final third of the album maintains the level of quality we’ve seen up until this point with “I Am Katharsis” and “Wormwood Star”. “I Am Katharsis” picks up from where “Wolvking” left off, being another “all gas no brakes” type deal, and the shortest song on the album (barring the intro), clocking in at 3:11. It’s brevity is in no way an indication of a lack of quality. Moments such as the frenzied lead at 2:05 give the track a unique flair in the greater context of the album. “Wormwood Star”, the album’s closer, is a polar opposite to that song, both in terms of length and feel. It’s the longest track on offer, clocking in just shy of 8 minutes, and maintains a funeral pace throughout its duration. It is driven by gargantuan bass riffs that, coupled with some acoustic touches, giving the song a very foreboding tone. Its length is one of its strengths as well, since moments like the slow riff at 2:19 and the brooding tremolo riff at 4:05 are used to their fullest potential, never overstaying their welcome.
Lyrically, the album is well written, though the themes aren’t anything original, dealing in apocalyptic and occult themes, which are further supplemented by vocalist Jonas Holmberg’s performance. He is quite diverse in his vocal approach, using both a hardcore shout and a manic black metal scream throughout this release. His intensity is another one of the album’s strengths, further increasing its impact.
Where things fall short is in the production department, more specifically the mixing. I do not know if it was done intentionally or not, but things become exceptionally cluttered during the faster moments on display, with the drums shoving the other instruments to the background, and the vocals cutting through whenever present. It’s quite the bewildering choice when one considers how well mixed All Hail The Swinelord was, in which everything had plenty of room to breathe and could be heard at all times. It’s a genuine shame too, because the instruments themselves sound great when the band slows down (see “Thresholds” and “Monuments...”).
As a whole, A Throne of Ash is a great album mired by some questionable choices. Despite that, its raw energy and vitriol more than made up for it, leading to it becoming one of my favourite releases of 2019. It manages to not only stack up to the band’s previous releases, but also in the blackened sludge field, making it an easy recommendation for anyone into the style.
Highlights: Blood Is My Harvest, Monuments for Dead Gods, I Am Katharsis, Wormwood Star

Rating: 87% 

  

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