Interview: THRON

Thron is a German black metal act, which presents a new album entitled as Pilgrim. An album with a mix of sound elements from black to death metal, the German black metallers nailed it and quite impressive, I’d say, so far, is one of 2021 favorite albums.
Below you can read an interview I had with the band’s guitarist PVIII, who’ve talked about the new album- concept behind, recording process, influences, shows and others.

The new album is so good, to begin with. Congrats!
Hi Carla, thanks a lot!

Entitled as Pilgrim, what’s the concept behind the album?
Pilgrim is the tale of a man of faith, who’s on a journey to his inner self. On this journey, he faces many challenges. He’s confronted with self-doubt, his inner demons, visions, violence and in the end he’s about to loose his mind.

I noticed some differences in the sound between Pilgrim and the previous albums, do you agree with it?
Yes, I produced the first two albums myself. For Pilgrim we went into the studio of our drummer CII. He’s a well known producer here in Germany, he produced bands like Necrophagist, The Spirit, Unlight, Imperium Dekadenz and many more (Iguana Studios is the name). He took the whole sound a step further. We wanted it to be more raw and brutal but also more defined at the same time. He did a great job if you ask me.

To a point, while listening to the album, is like I heard the music of Necrophobic, Naglfar… Do you take these bands as Thron’s influence? What other bands are you influenced by and from where are you getting inspired writing the lyrics?
The old Swedish scene from the mid 90s with bands like Dissection, Dawn, Vinterland, Unanimated, Sacramentum, Naglfar and Necrophobic are an influence, that’s undenieable. I grew up with these bands, and they had an impact on my way of playing guitar and writing songs. But Thron are more than just a tribute to these bands. I’m listening to a whole lot of different music. From 70s prog rock to pop music to experimental and avantgarde music and everything in between. One of my favourite artist of recent years is Emma Ruth Rundle. Her music is very dark and emotional, and has the same intense impact as many mlack metal bands, but in a totally different musical style. Some of my favourite bands ever are Iron Maiden, Neurosis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Morbid Angel… Lyrically I’m inspired by ancient history, the Bible and my daily observations of life.

How the recordings went for Pilgrim and what feedback have you received until now from the fans, media?
We recorded the bigger part of Pilgrim in fall 2019, so the pandemic didn’t have an influence on it and it went pretty smooth. The drum recordings and the mix and mastering had a bit of a delay due to some re-scheduling during the first corona lockdown in Germany. Feedback from fans and media is great. We got some fantastic reviews and are waiting for more to come.

The first 2 albums were released one year after another (2017 and 2018), and Pilgrim after some time, about 3 years later. Why took you a bit longer to release a new album?
Actually ,the songwriting for Pilgrim was finished in summer 2019, so we were really fast again, haha. It was less than a year after the release of Abysmal. Due to the pandemic situation, the release of the album was postponed. We were initially heading for a fall 2020 release, basically 2 years after Abysmal. But yeah, the pandemic…

You continued working with Listenable records. So far, how’s the relationship with the label?
They are great and very supportive. I like their old school attitude. I started playing in metal bands in 1990, and the label is from the same generation as I am. So we often have a common undertanding of things.

Thron’s activity begun back in 2015, 3 albums released, how do you see the band’s activity till now and what is your future goal to achieve?
Releasing 3 albums in a bit more than 5 years is a thing, and often I’m wondering how we could be so fast with everything. We’re not a fulltime band and are not touring 3 months per year, and that’s cool for us, cause we’re doing this out of passion for the music. Our future goals are: releasing more records and playing more cool shows.

And I hope that soon gigs and tours will happen again, nothing is sure this year as well, sadly!
Yeah, it really sucks. Our only show for 2021 until now is Party San Open Air, and no one knows if this will actually happening. Our booker is looking for shows in 2022, already.

Thanks PVIII for the interview, it was my pleasure. Cheers and hope to see you one day on stage!
Thank you,too! Really appreciate it, and hope to see you one day. Cheers!

https://www.facebook.com/THRONKvlt

Review by Mat: https://antichristmagazine.com/review-thron-pilgrim-listenable-records/