Take one bearded man, give him a wall of amplification, a double necked guitar, a bass, a multi-effects processor, a synthesizer, a couple of drum machines... and what do you have? Thrones! The bass sound on this record alone makes it worth the cash. A rumbling, lower-than-balls thunder machine assault on all that is holy and divine. Joe burns down whole cities and leaves nothing but broken strings and ashes in his wake.

It's seriously that heavy and scary, folks. This album is so balls out massive at points that you can't help but wonder what could have been had Joe gotten along better with the Melvins... or you might agree with me that getting kicked out of that band might have been the best thing for Preston, and for us. I can't put this album down. It snakes its way back into heavy rotation no matter what else I get into. Joe's drum programming is not just adequate, it carries its own irreplacable aesthetic. And what he does on top of those drums is mind blowing. These are the heaviest riffs I've ever heard. Preston doesn't let them drone on excessively like Earth and Sunn0))). He keeps them immediate and powerful, taking thick chunks of flesh and bone with every deliberate stroke. His use of vocoders really enhance the experience, taking this album to the left of being a sludge-fest towards some dreamlike uncharted territory.

Man, am I ever a fan of Joe Preston�s one-man band, Thrones. Very heavily influenced by The Residents and sludgy, bizarre underground metal makes for a strange combination. From the crazy samples and noises to the very weird vocals, which vary from overly processed, high pitch voices of the little people, to the very deep voice of whatever nasty creatures live up on whatever mountain it is that Joe got the idea for this band on. When you get down to the music, this is very heavy, almost like Earth meets doom, it vibrates your entire skull, rattles your teeth, and upsets the pit of your stomach when you listen to it even at a moderate volume. The singing is primarily science-fiction inspired, some epic inner journey that I know nothing about. The entirely epic nature of this album is astounding - if ever there was a surreal journey to be taken, it�s provided here.