Blood Red Throne is a Norwegian death metal band consisting of one Tchort (he who used to play in Emperor and then ascended to godhood with Green Carnation) and Død (Scariot’s Daniel Olaissen) on guitars. The immediate plus is that BRT sound nothing like the other bands that the duo are involved in. Instead what we get here is ultra heavy Florida death metal armed with massive riffs.

Blood Red Throne has over the last 9 years delivered some skull crushing music. Altered Genesis, their 2005 album was an out and out exercise in brutality and heaviness with mammoth riffs and a crystal clear production.

This year saw the release of the bands fourth full length album Come Death. While there is no great change in the delivery of these nine songs, what the band has done is tweak the formula. The riffs are still massive and the band sound brutal. Original vocalist Mr. Hustler has been replaced by Vald and he fills Hustler’s shoes effortlessly. The music owes a lot to Florida’s death metal pantheon. Sounding like a hybrid of Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse although on Come Death the band has added  mid paced down tuned sections that add some variety to the tempo.

Stand out tracks include the brutal “Deranged Assassin” and the superb “Taste Of God” with its thrash riffs and a brutally convincing performance from vocalist Vald. Some of the riffs on this album also come close to the riffing style found on Nevermore’s Politics Of Ecstasy release although far heavier.

“No New Beginning” has a massive chuggy riff that builds to a complete death metal assault before going off into a classic bay area style thrash riff. There’s also a very cool bass line on this song before the band return to the original massive chuggy riff to close the song. Super stuff. Title song “Come Death” is an absolute monster showing off the Slayer influences and at the same time putting together a crushing modern death metal attack.

There are no weak moments on this album. Overall, Come Death in fact scores over its predecessor by refining the sound and varying the tempos so that it never gets one dimensional. Infact, think of all your favourite thrash bands from the 80s and your favourite death metal bands from the early to mid-90s and Blood Red Throne sound like the perfect hybrid of the two without ever coming across as a retro or nostalgia act.

Label - Earache
Year Of Release - 2007