Label: Geistraum Records
Origin: Los Angeles, California, USA
The sun is shining on a warm afternoon in downtown LA, but in the nuclear green underground, in the Temple of Gorgon, one man charmer Geist is ushering in a grim new age of frost-bitten evil. Throats of Lie flash-freezes the listener’s aural gaze, allowing the temple’s venomous inhabitants to blast-beat strike their way in for the kill.
Opening track “Rebirth of the Moon” establishes a distorted, down-tuned den at a flow synonymous with the mid-90’s wave of Norwegian Black Metal. Sizzling chords slither down the soundboard of throaty growls delivered in the vein of Satyr of Satyricon in both tone and tempo. Despite the blistering rattle of the leading licks, the snare is kept at a moderate speed, and the percussion is well mixed, throttling neither the guitar’s melodic scales nor Geist’s deadly bite.
The riffs throughout are insidiously catchy, and eerie background synths introduced on the title track and continued on subsequent ripper “Worshipers of the Serpent” enhance the ophidian charm of the whole first side of the tape. Fourth track “Pale White Hand” hits this point home: a hypnotic guitar solo midway through curls into an extended bridge, vicious vocals, and a fade-out that leads into the cassette player’s *snap* which indicates the time to flip.
Side two opens with unorthodox “Of Fog and Dust,” featuring a coiled pair of melody changes as well as double-kicked bass drum playing a high stakes table at full tilt. Compared to the previous tracks on Throats of Lie, this side is decidedly more aggressive and fast-paced; the coldly calculating serpent has decided to lash out from the nest. Sixth track “Temple of Gorgon” continues along this instrumental blood vessel, with Erik Danielsson (Watain) – esque grunts injecting the first major arteries with hatred.
Blood Horizon (Track 7) https://templeofgorgon.bandcamp.com/album/throats-of-lie
Standout track “Blood Horizon” intertwines a shimmering snake-pit of riffs with menacing shrieks and lethal intonations. An intricately calibrated lead surprises the listener, enrapturing their attention all while the duplicitous viper devours the main body of the track. Start-stop instrumentals false charge into the unknown, adding an extra skin of complexity to an already murderous song. Record closer “Enter the Kingdom of the Dead” merges all of the elements of previous tracks into one, amalgamating the backdrop of synth, brutal growls, and serpentine guitar melodies.
Temple of Gorgon strikes at the modern black metal field with venom and vigor, unfurling an already-classic-sounding debut full-length. Throats of Lie casually entrances the listener with diabolical vocals, record pace, and punishing riffs – before puncturing the listener’s staid musical bloodlines and filling them with diabolical blackened poison.
FFO: Satyricon, Watain, Thorns, 1349
BLACK METAL EXTRACT
