By Rob Thompson
While Germany’s Mountain Throne have been around for a few years Stormcoven is their debut album. Released on December 6th 2013 via Cyclone Empire it contains eight songs with a running time of just less than 40 minutes. It’s a must for anyone who likes old school bands from the early 1980s: think Mercyful Fate with the attitude of Venom and a touch of early Manowar. The band clearly loves the classic metal sound albeit with more of a doomier vibe. Each track complements the atmosphere and general feel of the album. Lyrically the themes are timeless and traditionally metal: women, men, life and death.
One minor criticism is that all the tracks are around four to six minutes long. Perhaps if the band wanted to branch out into more of an exploratory nature then longer durations would allow them to open up and be more experimental? That said Mountain Throne are clearly a work in progress and I see them developing their sound and ideas as time goes on. And there’s no arguing that this is a strong debut release which provides a firm foundation for them to build upon.
‘Spirits Of Fate’ kicks off the album: the quiet introduction to the song fades away to be replaced by choppy riffs and a fairly catchy chorus. As the track progresses the pace picks up and it gallops along at a fair old rate. ‘Stormcoven’ is next and this upbeat number sees some of the most tuneful breaks and clean solos on the entire release. ‘Winter’ follows; commencing with an isolated, lonely bass before a substantial slab of doom confronts the listener via the medium of some colossal Sabbath type riffs. Immaculate but frantic solos are sprinkled into the middle of the track which provides a welcome contrast and some degree of musical variation. ‘Morningstar Iconoclast’ has a nice interplay between bass and drum at the start before mixing punk with doom (doom-punk?) to create a strange but enjoyable experience.
‘Priestess Of The Old’ is next and this is a frenetic NWOBHM tune which gallops along with some amusingly chugging riffs and hectic soloing over the top of the vocals. For me this was the standout track of the album. The double bass drums which make an appearance on the last quarter of the track support the riffs and are reminiscent of early Motörhead.
'On the Mountain Throne' is a sinister and ominous doomy number with vocals which sound like James Hetfield gargling broken glass. The last quarter of the song see a shift into a high-octane mode with some energetic riffing before the pace slows again to the end. ‘Where Alchemy Thrived’ follows and has a folk vibe running through it; this is more of a ballad (of sorts). It’s the longest track on the album clocking in at over 6:17 and in my opinion not one of the best, but then again not every song can be a killer. ‘Totem’ ends the album in groovy style with infectious soloing, and some cheeky interplay between drum and bass: a nice track in the old-fashioned epic metal style.
In summary, Stormcoven provides a satisfying classic old-school head banging experience. Pick some obscure bands from the 1980s, perhaps ones which released an album or two of long forgotten gems before disappearing and you won’t be far removed from what’s on offer here. For sure, these guys won’t be winning awards for originality and definitely won’t be carving out any new musical genres but being predictable and generic isn’t always a terrible thing. The band obviously worships at the altar of the some great bands from this awesome era and seem to truly care about their music and also capturing a moment which has long since passed. Pay them a visit on Facebook and do yourself a favour and step back in time to catch what they’ve got to offer.
