Review: Rhino - Dead Throne Monarch

Rhino, Dead Throne Monarch (2009)
Arctic Music Group
Format: CD

Dead Throne Monarch immediately opens by accosting the eardrums with the short, heavy grunts emanating from lead singer/guitarist Javier Galvez’s wicked windpipes. Immediately joined by Sergio Robles rumbling bass and Julen Gil’s thunderous skins, one quickly realizes that this album isn’t meant for a relaxed listening session—it’s here to completely trample and assault you.

This is Rhino’s second full-length album, and it’s not the stuff of dreams, but what nightmares are made of. Containing heavy influences across the entire spectrum of metal—grooving at times and kicking your ass to the pavement at others—it runs the full gamut, from slow lumbering beats and sluggishly slow guitars reminiscent of something found in an Electric Wizard epic, to fat groovy chords, chunky harmonics and deliberate rhythms that smack you around and brutalize your senses.

Galvez shows amazing range vocally throughout the album, moving from razor blade gargled heavy doom to actual melodic metallic crooning ala Chris Cornell when Soundgarden still mattered. He also brings a wicked axe that hacks and slashes with thick, chunky and aggressive chops. Robles bass is almost understated on most of Dead Throne Monarch as it meshes so well with the lead guitar and drums. Gil’s playing adds perfectly to the diversity of the album, delivering slow high-hat crashes accompanied by a snail’s pace beating that erupts at times to a full blown in your face thrashing double bass.

Yes, Dead Throne Monarch assaults, but it does slow down in parts, providing depth not found in most metal bands classified in the doom sub-genre. But even slowed, Rhino rarely loses stride; a majority of the time the album stirs deep emotions that make you want to hurt someone because Rhino’s hate, angst and rage are so palpable. The one sole exception is the acoustically based Wendigo, which really doesn’t seem to fit well with the rest of the album.

We can highly recommend Dead Throne Monarch to anyone who loves heavy, well done metal. From Doom/Stoner lovers to people more into Thrash—it really has something for everyone, and it doesn’t get lost in diversity, allowing almost everything to be enjoyed equally. This is truly some of the best Metal that Spain has to offer. It’s worth your hard earned jack and will leave you pumped.

RATING:



You can here clips of from Dead Throne Monarch at Rhino's MySpace page here

If you want to pick up a copy, swing by All That is Heavy here