Stillbirth: Revive The Throne

Violence, pure unadulterated violence, is the single sentence I would use to describe the new Stillbirth album: Revive The Throne. An album that by the end of the onslaught will leave you either defeated or thirsting for more. Stillbirth, for those who are unaware, are 6 Gladiators hailing from Hagen / Germany. Stillbirth has been a band on and off over the years but spent the recent years making up for lost time by releasing 4 albums over the past 5 years, making this album the 5th.

Speaking of the album Jesus pummelled into a pulp, Christ is this album heavy. “Are you ready for the total destruction?” Was the first line written on the promo email I got for this album. I can safely say I wasn’t. In the year of our Lord 2020 I feel many of us have, kind of, been on auto pilot mode during the epidemic of Covid-19 lockdown. When I needed some kind of jolt to wake me the fuck up, I hit play on this album. Stillbirth aren’t here for a sombre atmosphere. They’re here for one thing and one thing only. Chaos, pure and uncut chaos.

Stillbirth have done something special with this album I feel, while many bands have tried to make an assault on the ears pleasing, they can, unfortunately, go a bit too far and can end up sounding like a jet engine. But with Revive The Throne, Stillbirth has hit that sweet spot of assaulting your ears but in all the good ways. The soundtrack to a violent battle, so violent that if they tried to emulate the music visually they might have a Cannibal Holocaust like court case on their hands. If this is indeed the sound of the Coliseum. Well, Commodus must be sat on that throne because it’s certainly the end of Rome and by the sounds of it the rest of the f**ing world while they’re at it. 4/5 stars. their hands. Speaking of violent desperate fights between two mortals. This album has a Gladiator theme about it. With the album cover, song names and samples taken from Ridley Scott‘s ‘Gladiator’ and the now-forgotten gem ‘Spartacus Blood & Sand’.

I imagine the lyrics are also Gladiator themed but with Lukas Swiaczny’s disgustingly low gutturals – it’s quite difficult to understand him, not that I, nor any fan of this breed of Death Metal are complaining. Gladiators a la Warhammer 40k I have you. Stillbirth actually have a sneaky trick up their blood and sand stained sleeve. I mentioned there are six members of Stillbirth two of them are bassists, Dominik “Pumpa” König & Lukas Kaminsk respectively. Something I don’t think many bands have thought about incorporating into their sound, with two bassists it’s allowed the band to hit a heaviness that I can only describe as “filthy,” and I mean that in the best way possible. That incorporated into some nasty headbanging riffs coming from guitarists Jens Strack & Simon “Shrimps” Stürmlinger. Add Lukas Swiaczny’s vocals and Martin Grupe’s ferocious but controlled drumming, and you have an album I think you’ll be hard to top in it’s sheer destruction.

Whilst not for everyone, I will admit, if you’re not a fan of Slam Death Metal I’m afraid you’re not going to find anything here to convince you otherwise. If so, we all have our individual taste’s and there’s no shame in that, but I still ask you to check this album out just to experience the heaviness on display here. I will recommend my two favourites from this album, ‘Breed of Bestiality’ and ‘Unleash the Mutation’. For everyone else I cannot recommend this album anymore if you’re looking for an electric shock up the ass to wake you up!