Ancient Thrones: Canadian aquacosmic melo-tech-prog virtuoso gremlins streaming three songs

Ancient Thrones is streaming "The Sight of Oblivion," "The Soul to Flesh," and "Divided/Dissolve" ahead of their album The Veil. They have a youthful, all-over-the-map, post-2000 young metal sound to them: tech-death, death metal, melodic death metal, prog, black metal vocals, black metal blasting, big guitar melodies, thrashy riffs, tremolo/black metal parts, shredding type of extreme musicality. It's headbanging metal for the mosh pit, regardless. In addition, it sounds a lot smoother that you may be imagining. This is not a genre-mixing style. It's a smooth conglomeration, if you will. Really, all three songs sound uniform as Ancient Thrones, not like a compilation of bands. Finally, we have one question: Are those real, live drums on this albums, and not the lame, impotent, soft-pillow sound replacement stuff that so many bands like to use?! We do not know for a fact, but that drummer sounds like a human, not like a computer-robot drum machine. Speak up, Ancient Thrones! The world wants to know if you are defenders of human drumming in extreme metal. We sure need more! Down with the fake drumming, metal bands! Up with the human drummers! Human drummers, greetings to you! --Metal Bulletin Zine.

Ancient Thrones

The Veil - Out November 6th

6 November 2020

The official propaganda from Ancient Thrones: “The Veil is a 57 minute descent into the afterlife. We wanted to tell a compelling story of grief that people could relate to through a dark and progressive package droning with cosmic anguish, where nothing is as it appears both musically and lyrically. Much like the album, we went through a metamorphosis writing this piece and grew together as musicians, songwriters and people. It pushed us to unthinkable territories and really opened the box to new ideas. This was the most challenging and gruelling process we have ever gone through to make an album and the product is infused with that passion from the opening track until the end. We hope like the character in our story, you learn something about yourself, about your own legacy on earth and feel enlightened and connected to pain and the pain we all cause to ourselves. We’re all on the same journey to death, remove the veil and look forward.” All music written and performed by Ancient Thrones. All lyrics written by Sean Hickey. Dylan Wallace: Guitar; Nick Leslie: Guitar; Matt Leblanc: Bass, Cello; Sean Hickey: Vocals, Drums. Guest piano performance in "The Soul to Flesh" by Ashley Cates. Produced & Engineered by Don Walls. Mixed by Matt LeBlanc & Don Walls. Mastered by Matt LeBlanc.

BIOGRAPHY: Ancient Thrones, formerly “Abysseral Throne”, is an Atlantic Canada acclaimed blackened metal outfit that rebranded to suit major changes in line-up and songwriting. Formed in 2011 in New Brunswick and now residing in Halifax, NS, they quickly went to work to establish themselves among their scene and gained local notoriety eventually allowing them the opportunities to open for renowned metal acts from across the globe. Sean Hickey (drums/vocals) is the sole original founder of Abysseral remaining, Matt LeBlanc joined in 2015 on bass and improved and refined the sound and operation drastically. Once they lost their original singer and guitar player Jonny Rains, Dylan Wallace joined and took over main songwriting duties. Hickey took over completely on vocals with a black/death metal vocal style, and Nick Leslie joined shortly after on the second guitar. Work began on writing a new album which took about 3 months to write the music for. The new material sparked the name change to Ancient Thrones as an homage to one of Hickey’s favorite bands and inspirations, Wolves in the Throne Room.

In 2013, the band released its debut record and its subsequent follow-up in 2016, “Storming The Black Gate”, which was nominated for an East Coast Music Award. Ancient Thrones have toured throughout Canada, and played at several festivals, sharing the stages with bands such as Silverstein, The Agonist, Black Crown Initiate, and Skull Fist. 2020 sees the release of the concept album “The Veil” showcasing the band’s desire for storytelling and pushing them to new heights musically. The new album explores the journey of a man faced with tragedy, his mortality and ultimately the permanence of our actions told through technical soundscapes and haunting atmosphere. “The Veil” is due out November 6, 2020.

Discography: 2020 – The Veil – LP; 2016 – Storming the Black Gate – EP; 2013 – Reflections Enthroned – LP; 2012 – Chasm in Permafrost – Demo.

The Veil by Ancient Thrones