ALBUM REVIEW: Revive The Throne – Stillbirth

Since their formation in 1999, Germany’s STILLBIRTH have spent the better part of two decades riding the filthiest of sonic waves, borne from the band’s self-coined “brutal surf death metal” branding. Eight months into 2020 and the extreme metal arena has already seen some of the genre’s big-hitters – from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER to EXOCRINE and KATALEPSY – throwing their hats into the proverbial ring via a truckload of truly formidable releases.

As part and parcel of the Unique Leader Records (with INGESTED, DISENTOMB and CYTOTOXIN being just a few of their heavyweights) roster, the sextet’s claim that Revive The Throne is their heaviest work to date and promises “total destruction” is certainly a bold claim given the company they keep. There is also the small matter of predecessor Annihilation of Mankind’s bestial ferocity and eye-popping technicality to contend with here. So, with eleven rounds on offer in which to exercise their dominance, the question remains – is album number seven a total knockout or an unequivocal wipeout?

If you can take one thing away from Revive The Throne, let it be this. This is an album that intends on taking zero prisoners and one unapologetically devoid of any modicum of subtlety or calm. Simply put, it’s sphincter-loosening modus operandi will kick your teeth in, out, shake them all about and then stamp upon them right in front of you. This is death metal spawned and spat forth from the deepest, most festering pits imaginable. Opening on the hellacious Degraded to Mutilation, the album grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go for its 36-minute running time, erupting amongst a slew of nasty grooves, filth-laden slams and hardcore-inflected death gurgles courtesy of Lukas Swiaczny. A declaration of intent, as a kickstarter it’s as good as it gets when it comes down to modern technical extremity.

STILLBIRTH have long relished blurring the boundaries of extreme metal’s sub-genres, with their meticulous ‘slice and dice’ method placing them at the intersection of brutal death metal, grind and deathcore, and Revive The Throne is no different in this respect. This is a multi-faceted beast of a record which pulls from a variety of musical characteristics to obliterate the listener. Each pummelling riff is offset by bludgeoning snares and piercing pinch harmonics while a frequently shifting cornucopia of Corpsegrinder-esque gutturals, enamel-peeling screams and cricket growl-cum-brees ensures that the vocal section doesn’t merely languish in stereotypical slam, bam, thank you ma’am territory. Cranium-rattling blastbeats wrestle with verging-on-inhuman pig squeals during the one-two gut punch of Degeneration and Mans Tormentor, but their rage against the machine mentality is just a fetid taste of what’s to come.

Seconds into lead single Panem et Circenses and it explodes like a loaded-up hirsute grenade; it gurgles hard, it grinds harder and the eagle-eared will clock the humourous Wilhelm Scream sample around the track’s midpoint. Alongside gladiatorial themed album artwork that’s chock-full of various so-called Easter eggs – from horror movie characters to online memes – the track frequently nods to the plethora of modern-day cultural references coursing through the record. The band sound like they’re baying for blood and suddenly the Colosseum has become more akin to an adrenaline-soaked (ampu)theatre as dialogue from Hollywood blockbusters Troy and Gladiator bolsters the incessant bludgeoning. Clocking in at just over two and a half minutes, it’s fast, furious and shows that the band have not forgotten their roots that made them such a hit in the slam scene.

Hulking beatdowns and breakneck speed deathgrind aside, there is another significant element at work within the bowels of this record that sets it apart from others in the STILLBIRTH discography. And it’s also a defining factor in cementing the band’s insistence that this is their heaviest release to date – the inclusion of two bassists Dominik “Pumpa” König and Lukas Kaminsk – for the very first time. Overblown descriptors are unnecessary here – this is simply the sound of sheer destruction. Ladies and gentleman – prepare your behinds. For Breed of Bestiality and Unleash the Mutation are the epitome of low-end audacity; their potency made all the more exhilarating when incorporated into the barrage of riffs and Martin Grupe’s ferociously precise drumwork.

With Revive The Throne, STILLBIRTH have picked up where Annihilation of Mankind left off, incorporating those technical intricacies and combining them with low-end grooves alongside a concerted focus on structure and composition songwise. And whilst the record will not be everyone’s chosen soundtrack to go into battle, the Germans are sure to retain their established hordes with this calculatingly brutal war cry.

Rating: 8/10 

Revive The Throne is set for release on August 7th via Unique Leader Records.

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