| Throes of Absolution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 24, 2012 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 2009–2010, 2012 (re-recorded) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | Basick, Century Media | |||
| Producer | Aaron Smith | |||
| 7 Horns 7 Eyes chronology | ||||
| ||||
Throes of Absolution is the debut album by Christian death metal band 7 Horns 7 Eyes. This is the only album to feature Ryan Wood, who left to join Project 86. In the early process of writing this album, original vocalist Kyle Wood quit the band to be married, [4] but is still featured as a composer.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metal Underground |    [3] |
| Indie Vision Music | [5] |
No Clean Singing's reviewer states:"Powerful? Yes. Majestic? You bet your ass. One of the best of the year? Top shelf, grade-A, top-10-of-the-year list in the making. Buy this album. You won’t regret it. 'Within the throes of absolution, I shed my humanity. I rise beyond angels to the company of saints.'" [2]
Metal Underground writes:"Highs: These musicians are pros at their instruments, Jeff Loomis contributes guitar work, spats of keyboards enhance the atmosphere Lows: Songs are stretched out too long, some clean vocals could have better fit a few melodic sections
Bottom line: A good melodic death metal debut that shines with excellent guitar work, but falters with some pacing issues. [3]
Altogether, Throes of Absolution is an album that always hints at greatness but never quite reaches it. For every moment that feels measured and well-constructed, there’s another that comes across as superfluous or even uninspiring. However, in those glorious moments where everything lines up so perfectly, this band shows buckets of potential – more so than any new band I’ve heard this year. Mark my words, barring drastic line up changes or a nuclear apocalypse, the next 7 Horns 7 Eyes album will be spectacular. [6] T.S. Elliot of Indie Vision Music wrote: "Overall: With Throes of Absolution, every member of 7 Horns 7 Eyes does his part to achieve the honorable, mouthful labeling of “progressive atmospheric technical death metal.” The drums, guitars, bass and death growls create a very distinct atmosphere that makes for a pleasant and refreshing listen. There’s not as much vocal variation as I think the album deserves, but that’s a miniature issue—Throes of Absolution is a musical masterpiece that was worth waiting for." [5]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Divine Amnesty" | 6:34 |
| 2. | "Phumis: The Falsehood of Affliction" | 4:46 |
| 3. | "The Hill Difficulty" | 5:14 |
| 4. | "Cycle of Self" | 6:05 |
| 5. | "Delusions" | 5:30 |
| 6. | "A Finite Grasp of Infinite Disillusion" | 5:45 |
| 7. | "Vindicator" | 6:28 |
| 8. | "The Winnowing" | 5:36 |
| 9. | "Regeneration" (featuring Jeff Loomis formerly of Nevermore) | 6:42 |
| Total length: | 52:40 | |
7 Horns 7 Eyes [7]
Additional musicians
Production
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
A number of heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At times, heavy metal genres may overlap or are difficult to distinguish, but they can be identified by a number of traits. They may differ in terms of instrumentation, tempo, song structure, vocal style, lyrics, guitar playing style, drumming style, and so on.
Melodic death metal is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal. The genre features the heaviness of death metal but with highly melodic or harmonized guitar riffs and solos, and often features high-pitched shrieked vocals alongside the low-pitched growls commonly featured in traditional death metal. Pioneered by the English heavy metal band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork, melodic death metal developed further in Sweden in the mid-1990s. The Swedish death metal scene did much to popularise the style, soon centering in the "Gothenburg metal" scene. At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul, Dark Tranquility's The Gallery, and In Flames' The Jester Race, all released in the mid-1990s, were highly influential albums in melodic death metal, with At the Gates and In Flames being the two most common influences on North American 2000s heavy metal bands. Many American heavy metal bands emulated At the Gates' sound, resulting in the usage of the phrase "At the Gates worship".
Metalcore is a fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, that originated in the late 1980s. Among other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages conducive to moshing. Other defining instrumentation includes heavy guitar riffs often utilizing percussive pedal tones and double bass drumming. Vocalists in the genre typically perform screaming, more popular bands often combine this with the use of standard singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. However the death growl is also a popular technique within the genre.
Living Sacrifice is an American Christian metal band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1989. The band has released eight studio albums, out of which the first three were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson as a more thrash metal and death metal oriented band. The band evolved into a groove metal and metalcore style beginning with Reborn (1997) under Solid State Records with the original guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh on vocals. In 2003, the group disbanded due to other projects and later their label, Solid State, released their best-of album, In Memoriam (2005). In 2008, Living Sacrifice reformed and released a two-song digital only single called Death Machine. They then began working on The Infinite Order which was released on January 26, 2010. Lance Garvin and Bruce Fitzhugh are the two remaining original members.
Discharge are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The band is known for influencing several sub-genres of extreme music and their songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in heavy metal and other genres. The musical sub-genre of D-beat is named after Discharge and the band's distinctive drumbeat.
Soul Embraced is an American Christian melodic death metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas. It was originally a side project for Rocky Gray and David Sroczynski.
Hecate Enthroned are an English symphonic black metal band initially founded with members from both Wales and England, but are now primarily based around Cheshire, England. The band formed in 1993 as a blackened death metal act under the name Amethyst, changing their name to Daemonum later on. By 1995 the band had adopted the name Hecate Enthroned and a symphonic black metal style.
Jeff Loomis is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary. In 2014, he joined Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and in 2021 he joined Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz as well. As a solo artist he has released two albums and one EP.
Immortal Souls is a melodic death metal band from Kokkola, Finland, formed in 1991. They released a split album and their debut on Little Rose Productions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2002, Immortal Souls signed with Dutch label Fear Dark which released their second and third album as well as a compilation. They have performed at Tuska Open Air Metal Festival. Their musical style is characterized by their use of melodic guitar riffs and singing which shifts between growls and shouting. Their music has been called winter metal since Immortal Souls utilizes frosty metaphors in their lyrics and usually creates a cold, wintry atmosphere. The album Wintereich was released in 2007 in Europe on Dark Balance and in the USA through Facedown Records.
Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of melodic death metal and metalcore; it has a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, distorted guitar tones, palm muting, double bass drumming, blast beats, metalcore-stylized breakdowns, aggressive screaming, death growls, and clean singing. The genre has seen commercial success for employing a more accessible sound at times compared to other forms of extreme music. Many notable melodic metalcore bands have been influenced by At the Gates and In Flames.
Jason Wisdom is an American musician who is the lead vocalist and bass guitarist for the heavy metal band Becoming the Archetype. Though he was born and raised in a Christian home, he states that he was never committed to Christianity until high school. He considers his music as a form of ministry, but wishes to avoid a "preachy" stereotype. His influences include Extol, Living Sacrifice, and Mortification among others. Wisdom notes that even though his music is Christian metal, many of his fans are not Christians and are many times the ones who defend his music. Wisdom left the band in late November 2011 to take care of his family. Though current 7 Horns 7 Eyes frontman, JJ Polachek, tried out, Wisdom was replaced by former live fill in, Chris McCane. He started a solo project titled Death Therapy, which features no guitars. He currently works for RYFO, a company that helps musicians with places to stay, meals and other such things.
Amaranthe is a Swedish heavy metal band originally known as Avalanche. The band is notable for their blend of various metal genres and having three lead vocalists.
7 Horns 7 Eyes is an American Christian death metal band based out of Seattle, Washington. The band formed in 2006 and released their debut album Throes of Absolution on April 24, 2012, on Century Media Records in North America and Basick Records in Europe. On January 10, 2014, after being silent for nearly two years, vocalist JJ Polachek announced the band is working on three potential releases for 2014 and 2015. It was described as a large conceptual work.
Extol is the fifth full-length studio album by the Norwegian Christian progressive death metal band Extol, released in 2013. It was described by music critics as a mixture of death and progressive metal, with some melodic elements. Reviews of the album were very positive, and the album managed to chart on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart.
A Hill To Die Upon is an American blackened death metal band from the Monmouth-Galesburg area of Illinois, formed in 2004 by the brothers Adam and R. Michael Cook. The brothers initially founded the band as hardcore project, but eventually started listening to death and black metal, which led them to transform their band's sound. Over the years, various musicians have filled out the band's lineup, which currently consists of the Cook brothers and Nolan Osmond. Signed to Bombworks Records, A Hill to Die Upon has released four albums – Infinite Titanic Immortal in 2009, Omens in 2011, Holy Despair in 2014, and Via Artis, Via Mortis in 2017 - all to a positive critical reception. In 2013, the band also released a stand-alone single, "Manden med Leen". Musically, the band is compared primarily to Behemoth as well as Immortal, Naglfar, and Old Man's Child, all of which the brothers cite as among their major influences. The brothers are Christian, but they distance themselves from calling A Hill to Die Upon a Christian metal band. Lyrical themes include mythology, war, philosophy, and despair, with references drawn from the Bible and numerous literary works and authors.
Monotheist is a death metal band from Orlando, Florida. Former vocalist JJ Polachek is in the bands 7 Horns 7 Eyes and Ovid's Withering, of which, 7H7E, ranked their album on No. 1 on Metalsucks.com by Vince Neilsteins' Top 15 albums, and therefore stated that Monotheist is very similar to 7 Horns 7 Eyes. In 2016, the band released a demo, "Scion of Darkness" for their debut album that was to be released in the summer of 2016 via SkyBurnsBlack Records.
Death Requisite is a heavy metal band from Sarasota, Florida. The band describes their style as "blackened symphonic melodic Technical death metal" or simply "extreme hybrid metal". The band has played with Living Sacrifice, Extol, Zao, Norma Jean, and Sleeping Giant. The band is signed to Rottweiler Records.
Your Chance to Die is an American melodic death metal band from Columbia, South Carolina, formed in 2007.
Deathgrip is the fourth studio album by American metalcore band Fit for a King. It was released on October 7, 2016, through Solid State Records. It was produced by Nick Sampson and Bobby Lynge.
