Wednesday 3 June 2015

Throat - Manhole LP


Tracklist:

1. Gift Gas
2. Asbestos
3. Katoye
4. Holey
5. Soft White Walls
6. New Pest
7. Perfect Teeth
8. Euthanasia Coaster
9. Bad Heat

Is it really only Wednesday! After 21 hours of staring at a PC screen in my day job to spending yesterday and evening and part of this evening sorting out future blog interviews, I'm in dire need of something to clear my head. Thankfully, I have some perfect music to help me through and tonight I'm turning to Finland's Throat for comfort. This four-piece from Turku have been playing "party music for lobotomy patients" (their words!) since 2009. They released their first full-length, Manhole,  in 2013 via a collaboration of four international labels. I'm late to the party here, but it's okay because Mashable and Noisey said so!

Throat inhabit that strange space between noise-rock and metal, where experimentation and madcap tendencies are welcomed with open arms. There’s sound is mixture of rock, punk, sludge and general noise with both clean and harsh vox. The fits and starts of album opener Gift Gas mix melody with off-kilter sound clashes and just a hint of hardcore-punk. Manhole is definitely an album for the introverts., yet it contains enough swagger to make them feel like lotharios. Asbestos is as toxic a slice of rock n roll as it’s material based namesake (but it the most bad-ass way possible). The song-structures on Manhole and particularly songs like Katoye are in keeping with each other but still possess a glimpse of unhinged chaos at every turn. That chaos hasn’t quite spilled over yet, but there’s still a long way to go. They crawl into Holey without any notice at all and it’s here that you get a glimpse of the sludge they create. The song is a slow-burner in comparison to Manhole’s opening trio but it’s heavy edge is super pleasing. The semi-clean vocals don’t kick in until the mid point, so there’s ample time to lose yourself. Soft White Walls could well be the aural accompaniment to being confined to a padded cell and if it doesn’t get you moving, you’re probably already dead! The production, sound and general musicianship on Manhole is brilliant as well. Things are just noisy enough to stop it from sounding polished. New Pest sounds like it’s being played the bastard love-child of Electric Six and Clutch! That seems like a weird comparison and it sounded better in my head, but it makes sense when you listen to their slowed-down bizarre rock. The pace picks up on Perfect Teeth, but the distilled nature of Throat’s music is such that they don’t go bounding off into the distance without dragging you along with them. Euthanasia Coaster (great name) starts like a strange children’s song and turns into an even strange adult-only song. It’s actually the heaviest song on Manhole in my opinion, though I don’t think Throat intended it to be that way so interpret it as you will. Closing song Bad Heat is only 4.40secs on record but digitally it’s over 20 minutes long. The other fifteen minutes of the song is made up of silence followed by a short blast of noise. I’m listening to the digital song! The rest of Bad Heat did feature white-noise like silence and brief high pitched feedback. Manhole has complimented the mood I’ve been in this evening. It’s definitely one for this moments when angry hardcore or crushing extreme metal just won’t do. Throat is excellent and I should listen to them more.

Stream Manhole and download it digitally here:-



You can buy the LP version directly from Throat and depending where you are in the world, from these labels:-

Kaos Kontrol (Finland) - http://www.kaos-kontrol.org/
At War With False Noise (UK) - http://www.atwarwithfalsenoise.com
Rejuvination Records (France) - http://www.rejuvenationrecords.com

Throat Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ihatethroat
Kaos Kontrol Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kaoskontrolfinland
Rejuvination Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RejuvenationRecords

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