Review: Summoning the Lich Tell a Dark and Ambitious Tale of Fantastical Realms on Under the Reviled Throne
This might come as a shock to some, but I am a huge, unabashed nerd. If it’s got dragons, space battles, swords, people in obnoxious latex costumes beating the shit out of criminals, and/or volumes of unnecessarily deep lore to dive into, then I’m in. Doubly so if dice are involved. Fantasy themes have been highly prevalent in metal pretty much since the beginning and have often gone hand in hand with each other, especially in power metal.
But who’s to say fantasy can’t be brutal? Just because a fictional world has magic in it doesn’t mean that there can’t also be wanton death, destruction, and fear of impending apocalyptic annihilation, right? These are the tough and frankly brave questions that the up-and-coming St. Louis technical death metal outfit Summoning the Lich have been asking for the past few years, and their sophomore album Under the Reviled Throne provides one hell of a good answer.
But let’s not focus too heavily on the fantasy elements just yet — at least not solely. Yes, the subject matter is very nerdy and the imaginary world that these guys have created would undoubtedly serve as a great setting for a D&D campaign, but at the end of the day the most important aspect is, of course, the music itself. You could be screaming about folding the laundry for all I care; as long as the riffs are cool then everything else is secondary, and even if you were to remove all the swords and sorcery, this would still be a genuinely well written tech death album with a satisfyingly fluid and sensible flow.
Each song has its own distinct sense of personality, constantly experimenting with elements of blackened deathcore, top shelf melodeath, Archspire-esque breakneck speeds, and black metal’s signature pervasive atmosphere, but with a constant connecting thread keeping everything on track and ensuring that all of the transitions remain smooth and subtle. From the insanely catchy middle section of the opening track “Return to the Soil”, to the way “The Forest Feasts” seems to keep getting faster and faster until it reaches critical mass and loops back in on itself, to the beginning of “The Carrion Fleet” almost sounding like a completely different band as it leans dramatically into black metal territory but with gravity blasts, every song contains something wholly unexpected to keep things from going stale and reward the listener for sticking it out.
These are just a few examples, but the point is that this is a very self-aware album, highly cognizant of where it is at any given point and taking care not to repeat itself while working towards the next step. You never quite know which direction the music is going to go, but every time it arrives at its inevitable conclusion, it just feels right. It demonstrates just how much time, effort, thought, and passion went into the writing process, and the end result speaks for itself.
It’s not just the music that’s cleverly written and stylishly executed on Under the Reviled Throne, but the vocals as well. It might seem like overstating the obvious, but good vocals can make or break an album, and not just the tone but the lyrical patterns as well. Fortunately, vocalist David Bruno clearly understood the assignment and showed up ready to go to work on this one. This is a guy who understands that the vocals are just as much of an instrument as the rest of the, well, instruments. As such, he has gone to great lengths to push the limit of his technique, enunciation, and speed, squeezing as many syllables and words as he can into the boundaries he is given in order to narrate the aforementioned storyline in a way that not only blends naturally with the rest of the music but enhances it.
The band’s debut album United in Chaos told the story of a scorned druid slain by the very people he was once sworn to protect, and in his rage he sacrificed his soul to rise again as an unholy and all-powerful lich bent on bringing the realm of Arrias to its knees and reshaping it in his image with his seemingly limitless dark magical powers. Since then, armies have been rallied on both sides, and chaos and calamity have wormed their way throughout the kingdom. Under the Reviled Throne continues this captivating storyline, and although many have fallen to the Sin and the lich’s dark forces, there is still a faint glimmer of hope and resistance brewing in the far-flung wilds of this world. Not all hope is lost, but a titanic struggles lies ahead of the forces of good, and if they fail, then all will fall to madness and ruin. Will hope, reason, and justice prevail, or will death reign supreme once and for all? You’ll have to check out the album to find out.
Under the Reviled Throne drops this Friday, July 26th via Prosthetic Records. Pre-order your copy here
