When I first encountered Bellingham, WA power trio Wild Throne they were still called Dog Shredder, and their second EP Brass Tactics damn near blew my head clean off. I remember referencing their sonic kamikaze attack to DFA1979 and Melt Banana, and the band later confirming that Japanese influence in an interview.
Nobody (including Wild Throne themselves) expected then that the build-up towards their full-length album would take at least another three years. Nor that they would shed their infamous moniker in favor of the more canine-friendly Wild Throne. Yet when they introduced superstar producer Ross Robinson into their game things started to fall into place; this band was not kidding about pushing their shit to the next level. And boy, has Wild Throne reached that goal with their debut album!
Harvest Of Darkness sees the band supersizing itself in every single way, becoming a gargantuan Moloch (yes I do believe pleonasms are fucking justified here!) of sound, cramming a thousand ideas into this highly explosive album. The result is overwhelming, exciting, humbling, confusing, and to be honest even a bit exhausting at times. But maybe that’s just me getting a little older…
Let’s start off by applauding the band’s excellent choice to ask Ross Robinson to produce their heavy music smorgasbord. The man probably produced some of the band’s (and my) all time favorite records by At The Drive In, Glassjaw, Norma Jean, and The Blood Brothers, with which he proved that if anyone knows how to streamline these kinds of wild aggressive outbursts of metallic rock/hardcore it would be him. The clear production on Harvest Of Darkness is one of the essential elements that make it a success; it tames the Wild Throne animal and ties it down making it possible for the listener to make perfect sense out of all of it. All the while without giving any of the band’s remarkable identity over to the feared Gods of commercialism. Let’s face it; Robinson also produced some of the world’s worst records of all time (I’m looking at you Vanilla Ice!) so I’m actually happy that he smashed my initial nu-metal-fueled trepidation and showed us that he also still is the man that recorded Relationship Of Command.
So I guess, even though I didn’t actually say much about the music on Harvest Of Darkness yet, you would have somewhat of an idea what to expect. Wild Throne actually succeed in incorporating most of the abovementioned bands into their sound, and add to that Joshua Holland’s vocals, which will probably prove to be a deal breaker for many first-time listeners. A prototype of a classified cloning experiment involving Bruce Dickinson, Mathew Bellamy, and Geddy Lee, it is safe to call Joshua Holland’s voice the epitome of acquired taste. Adding that to the ADHD-style songs, the hodgepodge of styles on display, and the sheer madness in some of them, it is hard to see this Harvest Of Darkness make it to the top of the album charts.
Yet I am convinced that it will top a lot of personal Albums Of The Year lists year, as Wild Throne’s energy is highly contagious. As an album Harvest Of Darkness will reward all your initial patience as a listener with endless listening discoveries through its eclectic jungle. At The Drive In fans will rejoice, Refused fans will trash their copies of Freedom, and Wild Throne will reign the dark marshlands between underground Metalcore and mainstream Posthardcore from now on.
Rating: 4.5/5