Received wisdom has it that, once you leave your teenage years far behind, music loses some of its ability to impact you. I would dispute this, vigorously. While it is true that some see adulthood as a time to put away foolish things, for those who remain open to new sounds, a band can still come along that knocks you square on your arse, no matter how old you are. And it’s always a wonderful feeling when it does.
And so, to The Black Thunder, a band about whom I know nothing (with apologies to the band’s talented press officer – it’s not a lack of interest, I just prefer to come to these things free from preconceptions).
And you know what? I’m glad Because The Black Thunder, while cleaving close to a number of genres and styles I hold dear, do so with a degree of panache that brings the likes of Mastodon and even Soundgarden to mind.
Take opening number Verification of Wounds as a case in point. The opening bars immediately conjure up images of Mastodon circa Blood Mountain, elements of High on Fire’s turbo-charged stoner rock tear through the verse, only for the band to land on a chorus that has more in common with the likes of Cave In. Heavy, melodic, and delivered with impressive confidence, it’s one hell of a start to the album, and it certainly has me hooked.
The album continues with the doom-laden Ash In My Marrow, a mid-tempo monster that has an insistent riff at its core and a deathly vocal that nods to early My Dying Bride. It’s an interesting left-step for the band into darker, harder territory, and yet the flow feels entirely natural. The Black Thunder keep you guessing with Nothing Remains. Initially a hypnotic piece, it builds into something far darker and heavier, the pummelling drums and churning bass underpinning a riff that slowly mutates in front of your very eyes. When it does finally land, it’s as a hard-edged blast of death-infused thrash that sits somewhere between Kreator and Paradise Lost, especially when a melodic chorus edges into the frame.
The band appear to opt for something a little more melodic and atmospheric on Turn into Absence. The introduction, however, is misleading, and the band soon shift gears back into the death metal territory of Nothing Remains. It’s followed by a short, segue track, The Eternal Search for Inner Balance-Consciousness, which finds a subtle riff offset by a tension-building arpeggio. It paves the way for the explosive Fractured Time, a relatively straightforward blast of death thrash that sets the heart pumping.
Kicking off with a bass riff that recalls nothing so much as Australian tech-death merchants Alchemist, To Live, To Suffer, To Die promises great things and immediately delivers with a potent doom riff of real force. It’s good to hear the band continuing to explore a range of influences, all while remaining within the bounds of extreme metal, and here they deliver a track that feels like a long-lost gem from the Draconian Times sessions. The album wraps up, and all too soon, with Revelation of Times to Follow. A strong finale, it returns to the slowly evolving approach of the opening track, a sinister riff giving way to a molten outpouring of brutal metal that ends the album on a high.
With solid production, strong performances from the band, and a sense that The Black Thunder have both the ambition and confidence to successfully weave together elements from a host of metal legends into something that is recognisably their own, Time Obliteration is one of those albums that merits repeated plays if you want to fully appreciate just how much is going on.
For me, once I got past the initial “this is awesome” phase of listening to the record, I was pleased to note that each track continued to offer something new each time I returned, and there’s a depth and power to the record overall that really draws the listener in.
Music is and ever will be something that I find boundlessly exciting and, as long as there are bands like The Black Thunder, who are willing to invest their time, their money, their energy, and their passion into albums like Time Obliteration, I can’t see my enthusiasm fading. 9/10
