While not overly familiar with Germany’s long-running brutes Stillbirth, I’ve checked some of their releases via promotional material in the past but never been really impressed to put pen to paper and express my opinion about them, especially as they came off with a bit of a weed-based, tongue in check vibe (i.e song titles like “Zombie Porngasm”, “Another Talkshow Brawl”, “Stoner Boner”). But with Revive the Throne, and a more ‘serious’ approach, they have come out with a monster of an album.
Maybe its the Gladitoral cover art or samples and quotes from the likes of Game of Thrones, the Spartacus TV show, the Gladiator movie and more, but this shit is savage. It’s a pummeling 36-minute mix of brutal death metal, slam, tech death and maybe even grindcore.
The paint peeling production (including two bass players?) and guttural vocals all come together to form a no-frills, no-nonsense slab of pinch harmonic filled brutality that hits hard and fast. I’m reminded a little of Gutslit’s Amputheatre, from 2018 (which had Roman/gladiator artwork also), but with a little more slam and stomp. It rarely lets up from opener “Degraded to Mutilation” to closer “Dethrone the King”. Particularly punishing numbers include “Eating the Flesh of The Objector”,”Revolt of the Weak” and “Echoes of the Trumpets”.
While releases from labelmates Katalepsy, Ingested and Cytotoxin appear to be getting all the attention in the Unique Leader camp this summer, don’t let this release go under your radar, as it stands toe to toe with those guys as a damn solid slab of German brutality.
