Revealed in Ruin

No Man's Throne is a Canadian metal outfit that came to be at the tail end of 2012 looking to leap into the thrash metal ring their way and by their own level of experimental merit. Their debut recording has finally hit the scene after a few years' worth of turmoil (all those ups and downs, if you will), something the band is totally on the ups about, but how will that translate to potential listeners out there...?

Much of the thrash influence tends to come from the level of riffing and progressions, but beyond that "Revealed in Ruin" is more akin to hardcore-tinged melodeath ala mid-to-later-era The Haunted with more emphasis on the latter and a more encompassing level of songwriting. Much like TH, however, the faster and more energetic tempos and rhythms have plenty to offer yet the half-time bridges and breakdowns suck some of the air out of the room and leave the listener rather tired. That could just be me, though, where modern melodic death acts have almost no energy put into their craft (if they can help it), but that really was the case during the more crawling parts in spite of the well-done and subtle harmonies the lead guitar lines contain during their durations. But 'tis best to not wholly focus on the negatives (not entirely, anyway) as this isn't exactly a loss either, where the tightness of the group's performance and the ability to maintain the same amount of pith to not wholly lose you track by track. For a while, though...

That said, it feels like the more upbeat and melodic side of things is where "Revealed in Ruin" really shines, a bit more than the more straightforward and heavier moments, and when the entirety of the group shoots for this it leads to good proper appreciation, and as stated before the lumbering moments weigh down enough on you to hope for something more substantial coming to pass (at times it does, others it doesn't...). As well, the vocals are a little tiresome and not offering all that much when placed in proper context with the rest of the group and could have used some extra oomph in order to stand out and coalesce better (one can only take so much raging and shouting before it starts to grow stale) As the entirety of the work continues on, though, the general feel of things wears thinner and thinner until you get to a point where it feels you've heard it all before, only with a more vivid flavor and sense of appreciation (for me it was about halfway through "At the Heels of Giants" where the line in the sand was drawn). I guess if nothing else you could say that "Revealed..." is fun, even quite good in spots for a little while until its limitations catch up to it and your mind and ears start to wander. If that make sense? I hope?

At the end of the day No Man's Throne gives unto us a well done debut recording, but it's quite obvious that they have some more growing to do on a stylistic level. But in their defense, it's real damned rare to knock it out of the park with the first stride out of the gate so if nothing else, with a few more years and a better understanding on where to go with their approach they could really surprise us. We shall see...