Somnus Throne are Evan (guitar/vocals); Haley (bass) and Luke (drums) a band who pride themselves as coming from "all over the USA", a trio of wandering vagabonds and musical miscreants who have, over a period of time, come together, drifted apart and then come together again. Whether this latest coming together will last, given the nomadic lifestyles of the bands members, is anyone's guess but if it is the case that history repeats itself and wander lust once again finds the band parting company then at least we will have, in this their debut album "Somnus Throne" (Burning World Records), a document of their existence.
Things begin a little weird and freaky with opening track "Caliphate Obeisance", its utilization of sampled narrative, stating that we the listener may be "especially interested in our novel and quaint gourmets drug culture", is followed by thick dark droning distortion and unsettling vocal effects. This weirdness soon fades away though and is replaced by a circular and slightly off-kilter guitar motif that serves, along with another piece of cleverly placed narrative, as the introduction to the albums next track. That track, "Sadomancer", is a blustering, swaggering stoner doomic tome built around heavily phased guitar refrains, rumbling bass riffs and thundering percussion that is then decorated in vocals that although slightly monotonic and one dimensional are nonetheless pleasingly melodic. For next song "Shadow Heathen" Somnus Throne move slightly more into heavy psych territory, the band experimenting with eastern themes and space rock dynamics around a strident and highly addictive vocal melody enhanced by a truly emotive blues flecked guitar solo. "Receptor Antagonist" follows and is a huge sprawling low slung tome with a groove that is dark, dank and utterly delightful, if somewhat disturbing and dissonant. Final song "Aetheronaut - Permadose" sees Somnus Throne placing all their eggs in one basket and putting all their dooms , traditional,/stoner and psychedelic, into one big melting pot of groove that also sees the vocals constantly shifting between growled and grizzly and clean and harmonious.
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