ALBUM REVIEW: EXCESSIVE GUILT – thrown

Nu-metalcore newcomers THROWN have already made a splash in the scene, mostly recently walking away from 2024’s Heavy Music Awards the recipients of “Best Breakthrough Live Artist” and having amassed millions of streams all without releasing their debut album. EXCESSIVE GUILT, then, comes with the weight of great expectations behind it even if near half the album has been drip-fed as singles already. Unfortunately for it, the full album doesn’t offer anything we haven’t already heard from THROWN, or in fact anything other bands haven’t already done less cynically. 

Opener guilt has a screeching opening lick and thundering bass that backdrop angry growls of “Gimme a break!” spat with the level of vitriol you’d reserve for seeing you just ran out of cornflakes. backfire spends its two-minute runtime peddling the kind of grooving stomp GRAPHIC NATURE have already delivered far heavier, more emotionally resonant songs with, though its midsection breakdown briefly employs some interesting syncopation. Assumedly from their HMA win, this hits a lot harder in pits than it does through speakers, but that doesn’t excuse cookie cutter songwriting that plays into so many tropes. 

Lyrically it’s a mishmash of the classic aggro nu-metal tropes: being tired, being angry, being done, wanting to be left alone, and it’s always delivered in the same bark that, while again not offensive, doesn’t feel like it has an identity of its own. The same is true of their music. There are sonic touchstones of LIMP BIZKIT, KORN, SLIPKNOT and newer takes on the genre like GRAPHIC NATURE particularly in the desire to blend electronic elements, but at no point do THROWN ever work out what their own identity is, or show any glimmer of even trying. 

In that sense, EXCESSIVE GUILT is a conflicting listen. At just 21 minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome given the mostly one-note performances across the board, with not a single song getting close to three minutes long, and many sitting under two. That also means THROWN don’t actually develop any particularly novel ideas between songs; there are nice flourishes like the turntables of dislike, but Sid Wilson’s been doing those for years. The hip-hop influences in particular would’ve been nice to develop further to help set them aside from peers like (again) GRAPHIC NATURE whose d’n’b-flecked nu-metal shows a modern take with fresh ideas. 

So where does that leave EXCESSIVE GUILT, and by extension THROWN? Well, they’re already doing well for themselves without an album, and this is sure to placate those that’ve already thrown their weight behind the band. With that in mind, though, even as a short listen, this just doesn’t have any staying power beyond “guitar go crunch” or “angry breakdown time” that fade by the time the album ends. EXCESSIVE GUILT feels like it’s custom-built to be playlist fodder (which they’ve very much become, popping up on a multitude of Spotify editorials and often autoplaying on other artist radios). It’s won them a large listenership already, but this just feels like low-effort algorithm bait.

Rating: 4/10

EXCESSIVE GUILT is set for release on August 30th via Arising Empire.

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