Thronehammer – Kingslayer (Review)

Thronehammer are an international doom metal band and this is their third album.

Thronehammer’s 2021 album Incantation Rites was an absolutely colossal gem of an album that almost made it to the very top of my year end list. As such, it’s with some trepidation that I approached Kingslayer, as the previous record casts a long shadow.

Honestly though, this is just great stuff. The band’s mammoth sound and formidable presence are catastrophically potent, and each song that makes up Kingslayer is just a doom monster. Yes, that’s right, we are very firmly once more on the realms of ULTIMATE DOOOOOM!

However, this realm is not quite as dark and bleak as the realm of Incantation Rites, although it does share similar space, clearly. With nine songs instead of Incantation Rites‘ seven, but with a similar duration, (74 minutes), the average song length is shorter this time around, but that just means that there are more flavours of Thronehammer to sample.

The new Thronehammer weaves in elements of thrash, heavy, sludge, and death metal into massive slabs of granite-hard doom, making for a collection of songs that really hit hard. Kingslayer is more diverse than its predecessor, while still adhering to many similar stylistic reference points. Whereas Incantation Rites was a relentless onslaught of darkness, there are more shades of light and grey on Kingslayer. There’s more emphasis on classic metal might, it’s a more melodically textured album, and there’s more of a Paradise Lost-esque old-school doom influence. It’s not quite as gruesomely slow or repetitively hypnotic as Incantation Rites either, although these aspects of the Thronehammer sound certainly haven’t been neglected in this new work.

I love the vocals of the band’s singer, and on Kingslayer she sounds even better than ever. The combination of the gripping riffs and her commanding vocals equals songs that just won’t quit. It’s an epic concoction that delivers a huge doom feast right to your doorstep, before demolishing your house with a single flex of its bulging doom muscles.

Kingslayer is a multifaceted album that has seriously impressed. It shows that lightning can strike twice, and also that the band are capable of a few different types of excellence.

Considering how much I love Incantation Rites and how many hours I’ve sunk into it, it’s inevitable that I don’t yet properly know how Kingslayer truly compares to it. It’s going to take more time for me to fully digest this new record’s meaty awesomeness, but I do know that it is awesome, and you definitely need this in your life.

Essential listening.