Claim The Throne - Forged In Flame (2013) [Gorgatz]


- I N F O -

If there was one word to describe Claim the Throne's Forged in Flame, it would be epic. To describe it more fully, suggesting that it would be one of the most epic metal recordings ever produced in Australia would not be far from accurate. From the outset, the Perth quintet's third full length album is a veritable bombastic onslaught, a relentless campaign of victorious battle metal that gives no quarter. Their days as a near-parodical cheesy folk-metal band are now apparently a distant memory; only vestiges remain of the group that once gave the world the beer-swilling 'Ale Tunes' as the Viking spirit of Bathory and Unleashed now inform Claim the Throne's vision. Guitars ring and clash like battle-hardened steel delivering crushing, lightning-fast blows as a cracked and ragged voice howls and screams poetry of myth and war, and for more than an hour they offer little respite. Indeed, it can seem like a little too much. The interlude 'In the Mist' is barely enough time to take a breath from the ceaseless bombast of the first four songs before Claim the Throne plunges straight into the title track like a barbarian horde into a convent, feverishly despoiling everything it finds there. If a soundtrack existed for one of George R R Martin's battle scenes, this album would be it.

While the music maintains a level of intensity that is nothing short of astonishing - and this album is seventy minutes long! - the vocals don't always quite cut it. Brendon Capriotti goes off key more than once and on occasion it sounds like his croaky voice can't keep up with the sweeping scale of his band's songs but rather than detract from the performance it actually adds a more genuine feel to Claim the Throne's seemingly tireless storming-the-walls assault. After almost an hour of histrionic war hymns, Forged in Flame then unleashes 'In Blood be Sworn', a tale of such magniloquent grandeur the metal gods themselves must surely be in awe. Finally, Jesse Millea's piano solo 'Chronicle' closes the album like the quiet descending on a field of the dead after battle. Forged in Flame is a colossal, sweeping album of relentless, clashing epic melodic death metal and anyone who loves that sort of thing should own this.

Australia is certainly not synonymous with the world of folk and Viking metal. This is an area of musical expression in which Europe fairly dominates, and more specifically Scandinavia (where the Vikings actually came from). However, our great, heavy music loving nation has a few exponents of the style that very much punch above their weight, and one of them, indeed arguably the best, is Perth’s CLAIM THE THRONE.

These guys have been around since 2008, and this is their third album. And it finds them growing into their sound like a hand in a glove. Or maybe a sword into a scabbard? Their take on the seemingly disparate combination of folk and metal music is highly convincing. The roaring, bludgeoning metal guitars, rhythms and double bass drumming are offset beautifully by the folky melodies, female vocals and acoustic interludes that lend wonderful touches of very welcome dynamics, and the imagery it conjures is very much of sailing ships on the high seas, epic battles and wenching, pillaging and drunken debauchery.

There is real genius in the creation of this music, it’s actually quite dark and brutally heavy and powerful, however, rather than being unrelentingly gloomy and nasty, it’s still a shitload of fun, a crossover that is undoubtedly quite difficult to pull off authentically. But these guys do it with great aplomb. And it would surely be uproariously good fun in a live setting. Indeed, one can imagine toasting to a great victory in battle with a large flagon of ale whilst witnessing the spectacle that is no doubt CLAIM THE THRONE live.

This is yet another release that proves the absolute worth of Aussie heavy music, and one can also imagine these guys playing very comfortably alongside Europe, and the rest of the world’s best folk/Viking metal acts. Let’s hope they get the recognition as a world class Viking metal act that they richly deserve.

- T R A C K L I S T -

01. Ravagelands
02. The World Grows Dull
03. A Grand Destruction
04. Zephyrus
05. In The Mist
06. Forged In Flame
07. Serpent And The Star
08. Incursion
09. At The Ocean’s Edge
10. Essence Of A Scorched Realm
11. Gloryfeast
12. Darkened Seas Collide
13. In Blood Be Sworn
14. Chronicle

Format: 320 mp3
Style: Melodic Death Metal
Additional: Folk Metal
Size: 159.25 MB