About Life is the second full album from the Belgian sludge metal band Throatsnapper. Their debut About The Dead (2019) gave us already a hell of an uppercut. The long wait for the follow-up to their vigorous first full recording made us a bit impatient but we can already reveal that Throatsnapper does not disappoint at all, on the contrary. The Antwerp based quartet consisting of Wouter Goolaerts (vocals/bass), Jannick Van Den Bogaert (guitars), Jens Depetter (guitars) and Jan Cassiers (drums) constructs on About Life a double reinforced concrete sludge metal bunker.
Although the foundations of Throatsnapper are based on sludge metal several other styles such as post metal, grind, doom and black metal bubble up in this highly emotionally charged eight track album. The band manages to connect the positive and the negative feelings with the extreme vocals which are noticeably more down-tuned compared to their previous work.
The quiet minimised and well placed growls and grunts infuse the abundant guitar walls with a creepy and dystopian atmosphere. The band goes full speed with only ‘Dirt’ as an electronic buoy to take a short breath. Throatsnapper abducts us in a raw and deep sounding extreme metal vessel. Their goal was to create a more live-like sound which they surprisingly succeeded in.
About Life is definitely a second well-aimed punch against our teeth from this Belgian band. We love being swallowed into this dark, skull crushing and insane guitar violence. This awesome extreme metal recording will be released on black and green vinyl, CD and digital formats. About Life is a mandatory purchase for the fans of the so addictive rancid Consouling releases and beyond.
