Band:	The Dying Seed
Album:	Tsuba Through Your Throat
Style:	Stoner metal
Release date:	May 23, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. River's End
02. Old Man's Heir
03. Trees
04. Another Door
05. Tsuba Through Your Throat
06. Dirty Old Drunk
07. Downpour

So it's probably seemed like Metal Storm has become Doom Storm over the past little while, while I can't answer for the other writers on this webzine, the answer for me personally lies in the riffs. A good chunk (if not the entirety) of what makes metal appealing to many people (including myself), is the riffs. Receiving an album like Tsuba Through Your Throat to review makes this all the more apparent.

The riffs, man...The riffs. Freaking juicy, dark, menacing sounding riffs. That's the selling point on this band for sure. So here's the thing; on the initial listen, the primary vocals on this album come across as pretty plain, dry or boring. Not bad or embarrassing in any way, just completely flavourless. Well, they don't exactly cease to sound that way throughout, but rather the further the album goes on, the more they sink into the whole mix, the insignificant vocals seem less pronounced within a few tracks. However, they are nicely complimented by the rare occurrence of the harsh vocals that appear from time to time, somewhat reminiscent of Martin Van Drunen of Asphyx fame.

I wanted to get the one minor downside of this album out of the way so I could get back to these great riffs; typical stoner doom riffs in many ways, but nicely complimented by a few progressive touches on the rhythm side of things. Nothing too extravagant, just a few frantic drum patterns similar to that of Opeth's "Porcelain Heart" (calm down, this isn't an Opeth clone). Throw in your usual evil sounding leads and you've got the basic idea of what to expect from The Dying Seed.

The Dying Seed is another band that isn't exactly reinventing the wheel here, just playing staple-sounding stoner doom proficiently.