Apart from their geographic location, we don’t know that much about Thaw from the mighty Poland.
Advance [MMXII] is Thaw‘s second demo and another right step in the right direction. Extreme as fuck, these guys play different extreme music genres (black metal, doom, sludge, etc) always trough their noisy – as fuck, of course – filter.
For those that have known this band since 2010, when they released their first demo Decay [MMX], it’s kind of easy to point out the differences between these two releases. If the first effort was full of black metal atmosphere, and it was an obvious influence in the way they created, here in Advance [MMXII] they use the sludgy atmosphere as a kind of base atmosphere to deliver the three compositions included in this piece.
The foggy feeling in crescendo mode that opens in the first song, “Wasteland”, quickly turns into a cohesive madness, with the drummer working his ass off, while the guitar is fierce the mind of the listener. Divided into three different parts, “Wasteland” ends in a different, but similar, kind of foggy feeling which was used in the start, this time with drone and a physical kind of sound. “Greed” uses a sound that’s greater and more expansive, because of the drums work and the guitar sound that allows some breathing moments. Advance [MMXII] is closed with the more balder composition of Thaw. “Awake” reminds me, almost instantly, of the aggressive, yet highly atmospheric, atmosphere that granted the cult-status that Neurosis have today. The way they create a “sucking” atmosphere and complement it with marvelous guitar work…WOW. And who the fuck is singing? Scott Kelly? They’re clearly influenced by Neurosis, yet they sound like something different at the same time…but the singer appears to be Scott Kelly himself. You can’t help standing in place mesmerized and thinking, what the fuck has happened here?
On the top of all of this, these guys make the right decision of doing a fitting production, where we can feel all the power of the four instruments.
Demo records are kind of special, especially if the final result is so mesmerizing as Advance [MMXII].
Thaw will release their first full-length in March, through Avantgarde Music. Meanwhile, we can delight ourselves listening, over and over again, to this brilliant piece of work on their bandcamp.
New Comments