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minushuman bloodthrone
Artist: Minushuman
Title: Bloodthrone
Genre: Groove Thrash Metal
Release Date: 19th August 2011
Label: Season Of Mist


Album Review

MINUSHUMAN isn’t exactly so “minus” anymore. Ever since their debut album in 2008 - ‘Watch The World Die’ - they’ve been acclaimed to be as hard as a band like MESHGGAH and as catchy as a band like MACHINE HEAD. Together, this combination made them quite the French sensation, so fans could only salivate when they heard that the sophomore effort, ‘Bloodthrone’, would have the potential to live up to the first, if not surpass it. For those who have never heard MINUSHUMAN before, they tend to fuse the rhythms and chugs of groove metal with a semi-rough sound with spots of melody injected throughout the tracks. Vocally, the band uses a deep snarl similar to that of bands like THE DEFACED or DAATH along with a few clean vocal elements as well, but sadly they usually get buried in the music (such as on ‘The Size Of An Ocean’), so to hear them is more of an atmospheric pleasure. For those who felt that ‘Watch The World Die’ was just a “so so” album, ‘Bloodthrone’ stands to be the one that topples any sense of mediocrity.

The album begins with the chug happy ‘The Architect’. Here the band already hooks listeners with a catchy rhythm over snarled vocals in a straightforward groove metal fashion, but at the same time the riffs tend to repeat over and over so a lack of progression in song structure is sorely lacking. Fortunately, fans will be so enraptured by the rhythms that they probably won’t even let that faze them. MINUSHUMAN are not all about repetitive chugs though. ‘Forgotten Fields’ is one of the main standout tracks for the simple, yet melodic introduction and then how it stays throughout the song when layered on the crashing chords of what sounds like melodic death metal worthy music. As opposed to the following ‘Three Mile Island’, the toned down pace and slower approach is more effective than just completely blasting listeners off their feet. ‘Bloodthrone’ keeps a very epic tone to the music with the vocals almost faded and echoing so it feels like a symphonic chorus to groove metal. Again, the band tends to use the same rhythms over and over, but it is still enjoyable. The closing track, ‘Kill Me’, is a great instrumental that actually features keyboards so it does sound like an epic score with the ambient beginning on the guitars, and sounds even more well-rounded and dynamic than the band’s instrumental ‘New World Order’ on ‘Watch The World Die’.

Overall, ‘Bloodthrone’ is a great effort and worth listening to for those who enjoy melodic death metal, groove metal, thrash metal, or even modern metal. MINUSHUMAN does a great job at balancing the kind of songs that stick in the head for days for the more complex tracks that may not be as hook driven but feature enough elements to impress listeners into hearing them again, as opposed to trying to make a full chugging heavy metal album that is enjoyable at first, but when one realizes the same riffs are being recycled, the interest quickly fades away. With every track here, the band further sets itself on its own pedestal away from other comparisons- no longer are they considered MACHINE HEAD clones or just another ‘snarl n’ chug’ group. DARK POETRY (the band’s original name) has finally shed the last of its skin and bloomed into something really big. If ‘Bloodthrone’ is the heralding point of where MINUSHUMAN is headed, then everyone will surely flock after them straight into groove metal hell glory.


Tracklist

01. The Architect - 5:17
02. The Size Of An Ocean - 4:39
03. Evolve - 3:44
04. The Day We Died - 4:41
05. Forgotten Fields - 7:19
06. Three Mile Island - 4:35
07. Godspeed - 4:58
08. Another All - 4:28
09. Bloodthrone - 5:22
10. Kill Me - 6:05


Line-up

Cédric Moïse: vocals
Thomas Billerey: lead guitars
Lionel Bouyroux: rhythm guitar
Gaspard Jeanty-Ruard: drums
Mickaël Desmarie: bass


Website

http://www.minushumanity.com/


Cover Picture

minushuman bloodthrone


Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10


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