The album Vurias, by black/death metal band Thron, was released September 12th, 2025 on Listenable Records. It's a very forbidding record, as is typical for black metal. There isn't much hope presented here. I will say there are some things I liked about the album and some things I disliked. The band does build an interesting atmosphere around its music. The band is lead by Samca on vocals followed by PVIII on guitars/synth, Ravendust on guitars, SXIII on bass, and J on drums. They hail from Germany/Switzerland.

Some of the tracks including the opening "The Serpents Path" I can see myself walking through a foggy wood while listening to, and it would fit. The musicianship here is incredible. The best part of this track, for me, is the drumming. It's fast and furious, layered behind sick riffs and bass tones which are my favorite part of the album. The vocals are vicious, dripping with icy darkness. This track leads into "Astral Materia" which begins with pulse pounding riffs and blast beats from the drumming which create a forbidding atmosphere ever-present throughout the entire album. This is one of the standouts because I enjoy the vocal performances on this, and how everything paints a vastly dark and disturbing picture. My least favorite song on the album is "A Paradox". While I enjoy the instrumentation on the song and how brutal it is, from the frenetically paced drumming, to the loud, screaming guitar riffs which pummel the senses, the vocal performance here just doesn't work that well for me. The discordant diss

"One Truth, One Light" is another standout for me. I love the atmosphere and the picture this song paints, as well as the instrumentation melding together perfectly. The technicality of each and every musician in this band on this album is absolutely astounding. This album is meant to destroy your senses and leave you reeling, and it does a good job of that. Finally, the track "The Hunter and the Prey" was another standout from the beginning guitar riffs to the death metal drums. The inclusion of the saxophone at the back end of the album was great! I love when bands combine genres, especially when smooth Jazz gets introduced into something as heavy as Thron. It was definitely an interesting development that I wasn't expecting coming from this band which, before this track, had been completely, blisteringly heavy.

On the first listen, I wasn't sure what to expect from this band. The thrash sounds of death metal have always been music to my ears, but I haven't ever been able to get into the satanic, dark sounds of black metal. This band is the best of both worlds. Very depressing, sad, evil lyrics, with a vocal performance that is hit or miss, combined with the cacophony of death metal. I can feel the energy of this band and, seeing them live would probably cement that further for me.