Mountain Throne – Serpent’s Heathland

Releasedate: 13-08-2010; Label: Cyclone Empire
By: Sabine van Gameren

Mountain Throne is a German band. The make Doom mixed with traditional metal. This EP is the debut for the band and it is released on vinyl only.

The doom elements may not always been the most obvious, what seems to come forward more are these 70’s and 80’s influences. A nice reference to the past is made. The band’s beauty comes forward in very specific moments. The highlights, can be found in an intro, a chorus or in the rest the band takes with their songs before getting to intensity. The band goes into serious metal riffing when the tempo gets up. But gets set back in tempo straight after that. Somehow the doom is also in there, but in an enthusiastic moment they manage to escape it every once and a while.
It does not have the catchiness, but otherwise I would easily place them in line with a band like Sonic Roots. Five tracks on this album, which one you like most depends a lot on the personal taste as they tend to be quite different. “The Merry Man” is the slow rock n doom song where the guitars are meeting highlight moments on the background. Gives you a swift of focus, playful but “Endtime” is up in speed and gives space more individual highlights.
Plenty to find in this release. As the promomp3’s they aren’t so great, skipping over all the time, you should not be bothered to try find them online. It is a vinyl release only.

Line Up:
F. – Vocals
A. – Guitar (Mirror of Deception)
H. – Bass
J. – Drums

Tracklist: 01. Altar of Reason 02. Endtime 03. Serpent’s Heathland 04. The Forest 05. The Merry Men

Links:
Mountain Throne MySpace