Blood Red Throne - Imperial Congregation (Album Review)

Norwegian death metal band Blood Red Throne has been incredibly consistent over their twenty-three-year history.  Despite going through regular lineup changes between albums and moving between record labels more often than any other metal band I can think of, they’ve always offered brutal yet groovy take on the genre that brought a lot of American influences to mind.  For album number ten, Imperial Congregation, Blood Red Throne has brought bassist Stian Gundersen onboard and moved from Mighty Music to Nuclear Blast, and they’ve used that move to a bigger label to up their production values and songwriting chops to some of their best levels in years.

While some albums have ran out of steam a little early, each of the band’s ten offerings has given plenty of brutality and grooves for fans of classic death metal to dig into.  I’ve always personally found the more reigned in and shorter efforts like the self-titled, Affiliated With the Suffering, and Souls of Damnation to be the ones that stood out the most, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that Imperial Congregation justifies its forty-six minute length.  Blood Red Throne has focused a bit more on slower, methodical grooves with the occasional burst of speed this time around, yet the songwriting is able to provide a bit more twists and turns than listeners might initially be expecting.  There are still a few tracks that feel very similarly constructed, but many of the riffs here are built for headbanging and rather than going for pure brutality there are some catchier melodies that sneak in from time to time.  Quite a few of the songs use some melodic leads and solos to their advantage, creating a dark and sinister atmosphere that suits the brutal, aggressive side of the album.  They haven’t drastically reinvented anything Blood Red Throne or death metal in general, but the writing feels even more refined and shakes things up just enough to remain interesting from beginning to end.  It also helps that Imperial Congregation has some of the best production values the band has showcased in quite some time, offering a crushing bottom end with prominent bass lines while also allowing the melodic flourishes to break through.

Bolt has been with Blood Red Throne for four albums now, and he’s continued to leverage the ability to move from guttural growls to ear piercingly high shrieks without warning.  On Imperial Congregation he opts to stick with growls a bit more frequently, which suits the density and darker tone of the instrumentals.  You’ll still get some bursts of screams and shrieks, but they feel reserved for key moments this time around rather than the constant back and forth that was offered on the self-titled.  Even with this being the case the performance still feels quite varied, as songs like “Transparent Existence” find Bolt exploring some different pitches within the lower registers rather than going guttural the entire time.  It’s another small detail that makes a big difference and may be one of Bolt’s strongest showings with Blood Red Throne.

Ten albums in, you probably have a good idea of what to expect from Blood Red Throne, but there’s something about this one that puts it above the last few records.  There have been quite a few subtle tweaks to the songwriting, resulting in a familiar yet varied offering where the tracks remain interesting from beginning to end, and with strong production values rounding things out listeners are likely to get a lot of mileage out of this release.  If you’re looking for some of the better straight-up death metal of 2021, this is where you’ll find it.  Imperial Congregation is available from Nuclear Blast Records.

-Review by Chris Dahlberg

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