Band: Mountain Throne
Title: Serpent’s Heathland
Label: Cyclone Empire
Distribution: xxx
Release date: December 13th 2010
Review: EP (12”)

Mountain Throne were formed in 2009 by Mirror Of Deception-members A. (Andreas Taller; g) and J. (Jochen Müller; d). After teaming up with bass player H. and singer F., the quartet started rehearsing. After having heard some rehearsal tracks, Cyclone Empire contacted the project for a contract, resulting in the release of the official debut studio recording, Serpent’s Heathland.
This five-tracker, with a total running time of about twenty two minutes, will be released as limited 12”EP (500 copies only, I guess). And it stands for what A. had in mind when starting this combo: traditional Doom / Heavy Metal with a specific sound, apart from the ‘masses’.
Those who are trusted with Mirror Of Perception know that this Doom band differs too from the average. And this band (side-project?) too succeeds to add something extra-ordinary.
However, Mountain Throne does not sound like a Mirror Of Deception-clone, even though one cannot deny the mutual characteristics. Indeed it gets closer to Heavy Metal than ‘Doom-only-stuff’, combining slow rhythms, melodic riffs and clean yet warm and strong vocals. It IS ‘traditional’, lacking of modern or experimental additions, yet with a melancholic wink to the seventies, eighties and early nineties. There’s a lot of variation – not only the acoustic intermezzos for example, yet the tempo too varies from pounding slow to energetically up-tempo. And this goes for the international approach as well; you cannot say for sure this band hails from Germany; it could have been an American, English, Swedish or Gambian one as well…
For fans of everything between NWOBHM and Doom, between Mirror Of Deception, Black Sabbath, Trouble, Cirith Ungol, Lamp Of Thoth and Wall Of Sleep.

Later this year, probably in Spring, by the way, Sarlacc Productions will release a very limited split-EP with Chilean Doom-formation Procession (that recently released Destroyers Of The Faith through Doomentia – check out the review).

81/100

Ivan Tibos.