Throat Locust – Dragged Through Glass (Self-Released)

Friday, 6th January 2023
Rating: 8 / 10

In an era where the playing field is wide open for combining subgenres to develop your own niche or take on your favorite bands, the benefit is on the consumer side as long as quality becomes paramount. Arriving on the scene last year, Texas quintet Throat Locust develop an interesting groove-enhanced form of crushing death metal for this debut EP Dragged Through Glass. In a quick hitting three song affair, you might as well showcase all facets of your sound – and that is achieved, in a sound that takes into consideration everything from mainstay Florida or Texas influences stateside, as well as some overseas finesse that enhances the long-term performance appeal within this recording.

The lead breaks for instance possess this melodic smoothness next to some wild finger bending and note holding intensity – further adding to the Pantera-esque groove aspects that appear from time to time. Meanwhile the ferocious, unrelenting growls from Gil Perez possess this militant, commanding sensibility, driving hand in hand to the aggressive, mid-tempo to slightly faster riff barrage. The musical atmosphere contains this swirling madness of heaviness – shifting energy at the drop of a hat during opener “Death Lurker” from semi-thrash parts into a closing pit-swirling passage while executing Obituary to Bolt Thrower-ish tones and tempos. When drummer Rob Cantu chooses to blast away in sections of “Corruption and Greed”, he’ll temper the next musical sequence in this simpler pocket manner, placing the emphasis back on the Alex Gregory/ Eric Calvert rhythm to lead axe play. The closer “Axe Grinder” probably is this scribe’s favorite of the three – conjuring early Florida death swampy images, Gil summoning his deepest screams or acidic growls while the musical hooks slam heads (and bodies) through any preferred listening device, assuredly sending people hurtling into one another when experiencing Throat Locust live.

Names like Gatecreeper and Necrot are gaining massive traction as the current breed of death metal that is placing their own stamp on a style with a thirty-year plus history. Throat Locust have gotten out of the gates similarly with this debut effort, one to watch as they get more seasoning and another EP (or full-length) on the market.

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