Thrown plays suitably bleak doom metal, for sure, but with a laid-back sense of groove and melody that often veers to the stoner side, even granting that these are two styles which overlap a lot. Some of these riffs, arranged differently could well fit into a Spiritual Beggars or Orange Goblin album. The influences are definitely traditional doom reference points like Black Sabbath, Trouble and Pentagram, and a touch of NWOBHM, without any noticeable elements from more extreme styles. So the staunchly death-style growls came as that much more of a surprise to me at first. That’s a minor cause to pause, but I only note it because the music is so fluid and melodic, often almost warm, the vocals stick out a bit at first.

Not that it’s a swinging rock carousel – there are suitably harsh, menacing passages in plenty – and they often come in along with the vocals, as on the opening track, ‘I Am All Dead’. This makes for an interesting contrast between the more extreme-styled vocal passages and the rather tuneful instrumental context. After sometime, though the combination begins to settle in on you, as on the title track, ‘The Suicidal Kings Occult’ where leaden-yet-groovy Sabbathy riffs march along in lockstep with some seriously tortured growling. It makes for a surprisingly effective combination, and I don’t suppose I really need to ask people here to give growls a chance. I suppose Sentenced at their best might be a relevant comparison point, although Thrown don’t include any death tendencies in their musical palette, growling notwithstanding. Even a relatively fast-paced song like ‘Going Down’ is more classic metal chug than death blast. The surprisingly catchy riffs continue on ‘The Cure To Salvation’, which features some nifty supportive breaks from Thrown’s solid rhythm section. ‘Silent Chorus’ is a short instrumental interlude that reveals Thrown’s ability to seriously step the heaviness and pace down and still come out with something that is doom-laden while bearing a touch of delicacy.

There’s no stand-out virtuoso work here, but the band members have a great sensibility and the ability to work efficiently within their abilities. ‘Ten Years Of Nothing’ takes the pace back up, and has a definite non-wussy NWOBHM melodic influence, and I think I detect a Celtic Frost touch there too, of Morbid Tales vintage. ‘Once More I Loose All’ is another great track, mixing a deliberate, pulsing rhythm with chuggy riffing and Iommi worshipping fills, building to a surprisingly vehement ending, in context. The concluding track, ‘Jack The Ripper’ is another instrumental, this time more fully developed and with a folksy, melodic motif that is rather cool, but also reminds me vaguely of Metallica’s ‘Orion’ a little more than it needs to.

Minor quibbles aside, this is a very strong and assured debut album, a doom album that partakes of the genre’s best antecedents and adherents without sounding like it is playing by some notional rule-book of doominess. Thrown do a great job of enlivening the desultory thud of doom metal with thoughtful melody and a tasteful sense of groove, without compromising on the bleakness and nihilism your blackened little heart craves.

Year of Release: 2007
Label: Ironfist