Blood Red Throne - Altered Genesis

*=Staff's pick	Death To Birth Incarnadine Mangler* Tortured Soul Appearance Eye Licker* Mephitication* Arterial Lust Flesh To Destroy* Ripsaw Resentment* Altered Genesis Smite* State Of Darkness Deliberate Carnage

Genre	Death Metal	Mr. Hustler	Vocals
Tracks	12	Tchort	Guitar
Runningtime	50 Min.	Dod	Guitar
Label	Earache	Erlend Caspersen	Bass
Release	21 Feb. 2005	Bernt A Moen (session)	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Sinister, Suffocation

Many are the bands that have tried to get the best ingredients for groovy but still extreme Death Metal. Norway's Blood Red Throne is one of them. And all of you who heard the bands first full length album Monuments of Death know what kind of groove this band possesses. Blood Red Throne perform US influenced Death Metal, or to be more precise, the Florida style. So the fact that this band is Norwegian has very little or none affection to the music they play.

Tchort and Dod, who have written the music, have since I've last heard BRT sharpened the intensity and made the music more powerful than on the Monument of Death album, which was a good one but perhaps a bit monotone in its arrangements and melody building. Altered Genesis feels very creative, good composing and great riffs that give the feeling that it's very well planned music. The priorities don't seemed to have been the speed and to play the fastest possible, instead intellectual metal seem to be the right words. Here are also some good mid-tempo parts that make one think of some of the really heavy Bay Area influences. A well-fitted puzzle of death.

As I see it, Altered Genesis has a lot to offer. It has the characteristic riffs and pounding pulse that have been a trade mark for bands such as Monstrosity and Suffocation. What is more important is that Blood Red Throne have managed to add a serious heavy groove upon the technical aspects, which makes this heavy creation very alive and kicking.

If there is a weak link in the Blood Red Throne chain it must be the vocals. Mr. Hustler performs his growling and guttural screams well, but more variety and some surprising vocal works out of the ordinary would have been nice. Otherwise there isn't much to complain about. Blood Red Throne have with this album set the levels and my expectations very high for an opportunity to see this act live. With Altered Genesis, Blood Red Throne stands out from the grey masses.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8	6	8

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Tim