Described by punk rock bible Maximumrocknroll as “anthemic, blasty hardcore for the A.D.D.generation,” Winnipeg trio THRONE TORCHER blend traditional thrash and hardcore punk with jazz and ambient influences to create something wholly unique. With its origins dating back almost a decade under the controversial name Terrorist (changed after cops tried to raid the band’s apartment when their merch order was sent to “TERRORIST HQ”), the group has a reputation for a meticulously-crafted, self-produced sound – culminating in The Mechanics of a Nightmare.
Throne Torcher’s combination of raw, violent aggression and progressive, technical instrumentation has made them a cult favourite in heavy music circles. With a new record and an accompanying, self-produced horror film (shot in an abandoned Manitoba sanitarium), the trio is set to re-emerge on the scene after years of self-imposed studio exile with this bizarre and grim descent into decadence and self annihilation.
Today, we’re thrilled tyo give you their new song “Despair Orgy” and special commentary about influences for The Mechanics of a Nightmare!
Album will be released digitally on June 5th. Preorder, here.
The Mechanics Of A Nightmare was an exploration of despair in the modern age.
How strange to be more connected than ever and to live in a post privacy era and still feel alienated and disconnected. How is that even possible. Anxiety disorders, substance abuse, self harm is the dark current running through our city. LIving in the thick of it in downtown Winnipeg, well, that kind of thing just permeates your consciousness and it was in that environment we were writing and recording.
Being the weirdos that we are, it seemed normal to us to turn inward and just dive into this album/film concept we had about living in this nightmare world. For no other reason than you have to do something in the winters here to keep you from going insane. So we drew on the records, books, and movies we loved and made something that we are really proud of.
So here they are in no particular order…
Three records, three books and three movies that we love or at least find useful
Records
Propagandhi – Potemkin City Limits – collectively our favourite record because it’s the darkest and they are from our city. So a lot of the scenarios they paint are extremely real and vivid to us. I mean I walked by that fading mural on west Broadway every day. Don’t know what i’m talking about? Check out that record.
High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine – I can’t get enough of Matt Pikes huge guitar sound. This record really got us into loud amps and being picky about the tones we were using. It also just rips super hard.
Converge – Axe To Fall – Fun Fact…C (our drummer) learned to play drums to be in this band and this was the record that got him into playing the way he does. Also just an absolute banger.
Continued below…
Books
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski – is the creepiest book I have ever read. The whole book is just totally unsettling, disorienting and leaves with you this foreboding sense of dread. I really wanted our film to have that feel. Something that would stick with you and creep you out in the middle of the night
The Recording Engineer’s Handbook by Bobby Owsinski – is how we taught ourselves to record. I think what jumped out at us immediately was his suggestion to not go to take music production school. It promotes a learning by experimentation approach and that proved very useful and fit in well with our hatred for authority. No rules, No Gods No Masters.
The Genealogy of Morals by Freidrich Nietzsche – is his examination of the roots of morality and inevitable descent into nihilism and decadence in a post god world and the importance of creating your own meaning in the world. Which dovetailed rather nicely with our bleak outlook on things and pushed us to keep on creating.
Continued below..
Movies
Begotten – this is an experimental silent horror film by E. Elias Merhige and its weird as fuck. I don’t want to give too much away but there’s a character called God Killing Himself..’nuff said.
Twin Peaks by David Lynch – I mean he’s the grand master of surrealist cinema, at least in my opinion. It’s just a collection of weirdness that doesn’t let up and Lynch hardly ever feels to explain why. For me, that’s what makes it so unsettling. All of the supernatural events do not conform to human logic. It is what it is and you just have to deal with that. That spirit was something we tried to incorporate into Mechanics.
Captain Ron – It’s just an entertaining movie to be honest and we all like it so….i don’t know.
“Throne Torcher didn’t just want to release their new song “The Mechanics of a Nightmare” without a little horrifying bombast. So they filmed an 18-minute long self-produced horror film shot in an abandoned Manitoba sanitarium to go along with it. Both the film and the music are unsettling as all hell, so mission accomplished in a pretty big way.” Metal Injection
“…anthemic blasty hardcore for the A.D.D. generation, packed with a whole lot of variety and some awesomely inventive drum work.” Maxiumumrocknroll
