AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THORIUM — “ECLIPSED”

Today we help spread the news that on September 20th of this year Emanzipation Productions will release a new album named The Bastard by the veteran Danish death metal band Thorium.

To help build anticipation for this new sixth full-length from Thorium, today we’re also premiering a video for “Eclipsed“, the first single from The Bastard, which will be released on July 11th paired with a B-side song named “Underground” that’s also on the new album.

But first we should tell you about the Thorium lineup as it currently exists….

Photo Credit: Terkel Christensen

There are actually two lineups we’ve been provided. The first is the group who recorded the album. It includes veteran vocalist MHA, who’s been behind the Thorium mic from the band’s inception in the late ’90s (and who’s featured in the video we’re presenting); bassist Jesper Nielsen, who made his Thorium recording debut on their Danmark album; drummer Thomas Ohlsson; and none other than the indefatigable Gamleby wizard Rogga Johansson on guitars.

The other lineup, the band’s official “permanent” lineup and thus the one fans are likely to see on stage, again includes MHA and Jesper Nielsen, as well as guitarists José Cruz and JP, and drummer Daniel Preisler-Larsen.

On the album’s first singles, José Cruz performed guitar soloing on “Underground“, and Jonas Lindblood did the solos on “Eclipsed“. Marco Angioni performed the subtle keys on “Eclipsed“, and elsewhere on the album.

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Death metal is like a poisonous vine with many branchings, and Thorium didn’t confine themselves to any one of the offshoots when they made The Bastard, which you’ll realize after listening to the two singles being released on July 11th.

“Eclipsed“, the song we’re premiering, is advertised in part as “a razor-sharp tribute to the Scandinavian death metal scene in all its glory, to bands like Dissection, Edge Of Sanity, and Dismember“. That should whet your appetite for the song, unless you’re one of those grumpy curmudgeons who think there’s no point in listening to Scandinavian death metal created after the era when Dissection, Edge Of Sanity, and Dismember were new.

In a word, “Eclipsed” is electrifying. It’s also exsanguinating, epic, and immediately memorable.

Given the participation of Rogga Johansson on the song, it won’t come as a shock to discover that the tone of the riffing is massive and mauling, and it’s backed by throbbing thunder in the low end and the rushing drive of whip-crack drumming, and fronted by monstrous roars.

But even from the first moments, the song’s gripping melodies begin to seize attention, vast in their sweep and majestic in their mood, though with veins of bleakness also standing out. And so, while the riffing viciously whirs, gouges, and whines in its most ferocious phases, the music also elevates in the choruses, the melody again seizing attention as it seems to peal like the call of mournful horns. The soloing, on the other hand, proves to be a jubilant, fleet-fingered spectacle.

That’s a great song, and certainly a strong candidate for our site’s year-end list of “most infectious extreme metal songs”, but also be sure to track down and listen to the second single, “Underground”. Emanzipation previews it this way:

This one is a heavier more US-death metal-based banger. With heavy nods to David-Vincent-era Morbid Angel and to some degree the 90s Grave period, “Underground” is an instant death metal sing-a-long classic with the deep clean vocals kick in in the chorus.

The Bastard was mixed and mastered by Marco Angioni at Angioni Studios, and (as noted above) he also performed keys on the album. The cover art was created by Roberto Toderico. Check the links below for more info and to order and stream the music.

ORDER:
Digital: https://bfan.link/eclipsed
Webshop: https://bit.ly/emz-bnd

DIGITAL SINGLES:
https://bfan.link/eclipsed
https://bfan.link/underground-16

FOLLOW THORIUM:
https://targetshop.dk/thorium
https://www.instagram.com/thoriummetal/
https://www.facebook.com/thoriumdeathmetal
https://thorium.bandcamp.com/album/danmark
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PPLAyE4Okqdjqzc4DOmuT