THROAAT (USA) – ‘Black Speed’ MCD

With the five-song Black Speed, the band have hit a fever pitch, distilling the very essence of Throaat into their most exciting, throttling songs to date. Ever aptly titled, Black Speed maintains first-wave black metal aesthetics within an unselfconsciously modern framework. Signposts of early Slayer, Hungary’s Tormentor, debut-era Bathory, and ’80s Mayhem exist, but don’t even tell half the story.