apanthropy

Blood Red Throne
Siltskin
Soulseller Records
To Be Released: December 5th, 2025

Rating: 82/100

“What Blood Red Throne accomplish with Siltskin is not the reinvention of the death metal wheel. But, rather simply, using the wheel to crush everything in its path. It really is that simple. This is pure early 2000s death metal with a modern tonal palette. Solid songwriting grafts to explosive percussion and multi-dimensional riff passages, huge crunching guitar tone heats the riff phrases to rancorous levels, and the two different styles of vocal execution merge together to create an end sum that is total destruction, clean and precise, like watching a poor soul’s head get shattered to pieces through a sniper’s scope.“

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1 – Scraping Out the Cartilage
2 – Beneath the Means
3 – Husk in the Grain
4 – Necrolysis
5 – Anodyne Rust
6 – Vestigial Remnants
7 – Vermicular Heritage
8 – On These Bones
9 – Marrow of the Earth
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Appearing late in the decade’s death metal boom, Blood Red Throne formed in 1998, striking first with their one and only demo tape, Deathmix 2000, released in 2000. Their first full-length, Monument of Death, would appear the following year, in 2001, and would establish the foundation of a career that is pushing towards the thirty-year mark. 11 full-lengths have been unleashed by the band over the course of their career, with their newest, Siltskin, set to arrive on December 5th through Soulseller Records. The Norwegian five-piece have cut nine new songs, spanning 45 minutes of blistering fury and pulverizing riffcraft.

What Blood Red Throne accomplish with Siltskin is not the reinvention of the death metal wheel. But, rather simply, using the wheel to crush everything in its path. It really is that simple. This is pure early 2000s death metal with a modern tonal palette. Solid songwriting grafts to explosive percussion and multi-dimensional riff passages, huge crunching guitar tone heats the riff phrases to rancorous levels, and the two different styles of vocal execution merge together to create an end sum that is total destruction, clean and precise, like watching a poor soul’s head get shattered to pieces through a sniper’s scope.

Opening with ‘Scraping Out the Cartilage,’ there is a brief build-up that signals impending intensity and searing melodic accents stoke the tension before the song kicks into high gear. A largely chromatic riff enters, braced by a crushing thrash beat. One immediately appreciates the sharp and crisp presence of Freddy Bolsø’s drumming, with a punchy bass drum and pistol-fire snare. Transitions come and go, like a knife repeatedly entering and exiting an abdomen. Up-tempo phrases bleed into half-time movements, crushing rhythm-minded riffing – such as the primary chorus riff – gives off primitive murderous vibes while flanked by searing melodic lead work.

Tracks such as ‘Husk in the Grain,’ are high-speed, high precision killing mechanisms. Blindingly fast double-bass work and percussive blasting accompany a churning single-note tremolo melody, twisting transitions lead to blaring chord sequences and purely filthy palm-muted grinding. Pure mosh potential at work. Ultra-fast triplets at the 2:00 minute mark add the flair of technicality to the guitar playing, a brief, seemingly unimportant moment in the song that, upon deeper examination, really shows the level of detail that went into the riff structuring. The double guitar configuration of Død and Meathook show a pair that are locked in sync with one another, with intensely rhythmic phrases meeting screaming leadwork.

‘Necrolysis’ shows off the guitar tone with nasty open-note palm-muting and heavy use of chugging triplets, ‘Vestigial Remnants’ feels like it was deliberately engineered for the live environment with its penchant for hook-heavy riff work and ugly transition phrases, ‘On These Bones’ shows off the might of the Norwegian death metal scene with its display of full and violent splendor.

‘Anodyne Rust’ is where the band really clicks. If there was one track that underlines the violence and pure tone worship of Blood Red Throne, it would be this one. Reaching breakneck speeds on the drums with no loss of precision whatsoever, fretboard fire comes from chugging and deep bends merged with ethereal lead work and sinister harmonization, and the vocal execution is amongst the best on the album.

The Norwegian death metal scene is perpetually eclipsed by the flagrant black metal scene the nation birthed. It’s, in some sense, a shame, considering the rich history Norway has with the international death metal abyss. With early acts such as Darkthrone, Cadaver, Old Funeral, and Amputation fueling the country’s surge of death metal in the 1980s, having a veteran act such as Blood Red Throne representing the strength of your current death metal scene is a great thing. Siltskin doesn’t feel or play like a 12th studio album, it plays with the youthful fury of a debut record coupled with the veteran execution of band that has been active for over 25 years. Overall, this is a solid record for Blood Red Throne and a great late addition to a stunning year for death metal.

Label: Soulseller Records
Band: Blood Red Throne

AJK