Review: She The Throne ‘Nuntis’
The members of this mysterious Manchester duo have been involved in various metal/electronic/noise/hip-hop projects since the late 1990s, and as with American psychedelic doom metallers Lightmaker (whose debut I reviewed three years ago), demonstrates social media’s usefulness when it comes to discovering new music.
Following correspondence with the group, I learnt that their odd moniker is a reference to the Greek goddess Isis whose counterpart in Egyptian Lore was Iset and translates to She of the Throne. Furthermore, the throne hieroglyph (which is the face of the band) was once believed to represent Magic, Power and Creation, and for She The Throne this is representative of vibration and sound where all creation begins. Nuntis, the band’s sophomore album follows a plethora of releases that include (August) 2023’s Orion EP, 2022’s Whisper A Red Voice live sketches and 2017’s Self-Titled full-length debut.
If like me you are a Kubrick fan, particularly the underrated Eyes Wide Shut, then Uath will sound just as haunting as Jocelyn Pook’s score during the masked ball scene of that film. It evokes a similar enigmatic feel, with vocals sounding like that of Beth Gibbons and by extension the trip-hop vibes of her band Portishead. An excellent opener. Clonus builds slowly with cool ambient hip-hop atmospherics before finally erupting around the two-and-a-half-minute mark with some awesome industrial metal flavourings that hit you like a subtler Killing Joke or Justin Broadrick solo project. There is just an effortless cool about this track.
Nirodha, the shortest number on the album at just over four minutes, reminds me vocally of the eccentric Katie Jane Garside (no bad thing) during her Queenadreena days. Musically the latter’s gothic charm springs to mind making it a supremely elegant and beautifully constructed piece. Vril possesses a psychedelic shamanic quality not far removed from Bonnacons of Doom and their latest album Signs and you get a similar sense of transcending the present day world.
the album undoubtedly marks the strongest set of songs the band have conceived to date…
Again, dark hip-hop/trip-hop influences emerge during Nephilim with moments resembling the heavy dub style bass artists like The Bug and the Rhythm And Stealth album by Leftfield. You can see why it was chosen as a preview track, it’s spectacular. Apsara starts in a low-key fashion with ghostly vocals and an ethereal-wave/dream-pop vibe reminiscent of both The Cocteau Twins and the Banshees during the latter’s more ‘melodic’ phase. A drumbeat comes in which helps give the track a little more form and structure as well as a distinctly sinister edge that is right up my street.
Clare continues the darkness and has a glitch techno sound that is right out of Warp Records and like a lot of that label’s output, it is utterly captivating. Larentia with thick grooves, samples and wailing vocals wouldn’t be totally out of place on a Bjork record, if the latter was geared more towards the harsh noise end of the spectrum ala unforgiving noise terrorists Gridfailure and Fulcanelli marks the longest track on Nuntis at nearly nine minutes long. Skin’s (Skunk Anansie) collaboration with The Prodigy’s Maxim on Carmen Queasy springs to mind, but a more abstract guitar-less version concludes the album brilliantly.
Nuntis was supposed to be released in 2020 but due to Covid and various label related woes, was put on hold. The sense of claustrophobia and isolation that came with the pandemic is apparent here and the album undoubtedly marks the strongest set of songs the band have conceived to date. The outright abstract noise has been dialled down to forge something that is well worthy of your time.
Label: Trepanation Recordings
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
