(Not long ago Supreme Chaos Records released a new album by the part-British, part-German doom band Thronehammer, and shortly before that august day Comrade Aleks spoke with the band’s vocalist Kat Shevil Gillham. Today we present that discussion.)
Thronehammer is a doom metal band formed by guitarist Stuart West (Obelyskkh, Versus the Stillborn-Minded and so on) in 2012. Slowly he formed the full lineup, and one by one albums started to appear.
Usurper of the Oaken Throne (2019) and Incantation Rites (2021) were good ones, but the new full-length Kingslayer which was released on the 3rd of November by Supreme Chaos Records is another thing. I agree with the album’s official press-release, which says “The nine epic new movements on Thronehammer’s Kingslayer culminate into the band’s most versatile material to date, with more metal energy than ever fueling the album, with their riff savagery fully on display in every track”.
Thronehammer’s singer Kat Shevil Gillham shared a few thoughts about the new stuff and the situation around the band not long before the release.
Hi Kat! Accept my congratulations with the forthcoming release of Thronehammer’s third album Kingslayer. How long did you have to wait for this release?
Well we were working on this material for well over a year, we recorded the album in the first part of this year, and it is being released on November 3rd via Supreme Chaos Records, so it has all come together very fast!
The band’s members live in both Germany and the UK, so did you record the songs separately this time or did you have an opportunity to record something together in the studio?
Well the guitars were recorded together by Tim and Stuart at Tim’s home studio, drums were recorded at a studio in Berlin where our drummer Markus lives, the bass was recorded at Uwe‘s little home set-up, and my vocals were tracked here in Durham City at Rocking Horse Recording Studio with Neil Combstock, who has tracked all my vocals for me so far.
By the way, does this approach make a difference for you as the band? Or is having another album enough for you?
The fact we are about to release our 3rd album in 4 years shows that this way of working is very productive and that it works just fine.
Thronehammer’s second album Incantation Rites was released relatively not long ago, in 2021. What kind of feedback did you get? Can you say that it evoked some resonance?
That album got a very positive response from across the board, and it definitely seemed to go down very well with many people. We were very happy with the response we got to that album.
You keep on providing quite epic and pompous doom metal for the entire decade and it grows only better with each release. Did you make a special effort to surpass yourself this time? Was it a challenge for you?
Well we made a conscious effort not to just exactly repeat ourselves — this new album is our most varied and diverse sounding album so far whilst still sounding like Thronehammer. We wanted to raise the bar again and I think everyone has stepped up their performances on this album.
Every album and recording is a challenge, you can’t be complacent, and you have to do your best and try to up your game from the previous recording. It’s about evolving as a band and as musicians and not just staying stagnant. We want to keep things interesting and challenging and this new album has a lot of musical and vocal twists and turns on it. We are taking the listener on a journey through various musical soundscapes.
Which qualities of doom metal did you search to channel through Kingslayer? What kind of sound and level of expression in general did you want to reach?
Well there is the obvious epic doom influence, there’s atmospheric doom and death doom influences too. We wanted the new album to be atmospheric and powerful and I think we definitely achieved that.
You kept this old-school graphic style in choosing the artwork for Kingslayer. Who’s its author? How did you discuss with him what you want to get?
Nils Broß did the cover art and him and Stuart (West, guitar) discussed things about it between them. The end result definitely fits the vibe of the album and lyrics, its a great detailed and grim piece of dark art!
It seems that the new songs’ lyrics are focused again on fantasy / warrior themes. Do you have a constant source of inspiration in literature and movies or is it your own imagination?
A lot comes from my own imagination lyrically. It is a subject I am very interested in. I take influences from ancient history and also some ancient mythology as well as letting my imagination run wild a bit. Some of the new lyrics are very mythical too. There’s also a definite viking era Twilight of the Gods/Hammerheart Bathory influence in some of my lyrics.
It looks like all the top levels in the doom hierarchy are occupied by old and well-known bands and some new bands with major labels behind them. How do you feel yourself in the situation like this? Do you see an opportunity to put an extra effort and reach a higher position?
We don’t worry about things like that, our profile is steadily increasing and we are happy and content being at the level and position we are currently in. We definitely have no interest in being flavour of the month or riding some short-lived hype train. We will be playing some bigger festivals next year where we will reach a larger audience which will be cool, but we aren’t looking to be the “next big thing” or anything. We aren’t concerned about things like that, we just do what we do and do what we enjoy doing. We put no pressure on ourselves.
What are your further plans for the rest of 2023? Do you plan to perform some live shows in order to support the release?
We have just came off a 9-date tour which took us across Germany and also to Switzerland where we played a few songs from the new album. That was the beginning of the live cycle for Kingslayer. We have one show left this year in Nürnberg on November 25th and then for next year the calendar is slowly getting booked up.
We have just been confirmed for Alcatraz Festival in Belgium alongside bands like Paradise Lost, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Amon Amarth, Cro-Mags, Benediction, Watain, etc., and there’s more in the pipeline and TBA so it should be quite a busy year for us with one-off/festival shows, as we now have the Sound of Liberation booking agency behind us and helping to open more doors for us when it comes to playing live.
https://thronehammer.bandcamp.com/album/kingslayer
https://www.facebook.com/THRONEHAMMER/