We first caught Washington trio Wild Throne last year, opening for Kobra and the Lotus in New York at the Studio at Webster Hall. We knew nothing about them, but were impressed. We described them at the time as High on Fire with Geddy Lee singing, although that doesn’t quite do them justice. We weren’t the only people there checking them out. Brutal Panda Records was there, having released their Blood Maker EP earlier that year. There were also a handful of people from Roadrunner Records. We’re not saying that the show that night was what led to them being signed to Roadrunner, but here we are writing about “War is a Romance,” the first single from their Roadrunner debut, Harvest of Darkness.
It’s good to see that Roadrunner, even though they’re now part of a corporation, are still taking chances on bands like Wild Throne. It’s not like this band is particularly commercial, sounding more like The Mars Volta than any other band on RR’s roster. In short, this song, which debuted yesterday on NPR, kicks all kind of ass. Harvest of Darkness won’t be out until August 18th, but we can’t wait to hear the rest of it. Here’s what singer Josh Holland says about the track:
“Humans tend to seek out both love and war instinctively. Rather than thinking of them as opposites, I wanted to suggest that the intensities of violence and passion actually share more similarities than differences. That the hunger to fight is some sort of inner romance. We lust for it.”
