Forsaker Of The Throne – Exhion Review

[Cover artwork by The Blacksmith]

I will freely admit that anonymity when it comes to art largely puzzles me, particularly as it relates to music. Aliased with some sort of elaborate costume? There’s potential there; who doesn’t love a little impish mystery in their entertainment. But entirely faceless? Even if you’re not sharing it with others around you as a listener, music is a connector, storyteller and master forger of distinct human tribes, so attaching an entirely faceless factor to the work, at least for me, has the potential for diminishing the overall impact.

That being said, I’m certain there are sound reasons for anonymity in music, just as there are sound reasons for anonymity in any form of art. However, I still reserve the right to FORCE AN IDENTITY as I see fit in such cases because: 1) My OCD-riddled brain hungers for that connection, and 2) I am annoying.

This is all a terrifically roundabout way for me to introduce Forsaker Of The Throne, a one-person epic heavy metal project from Greece credited to an individual who only goes by the name ‘The Blacksmith’. We have zero images of the human behind that moniker (assuming they are human), and Forsaker Of The Throne has zero internet presence beyond its bandcamp page—not much to dig through if you’re the sort that really enjoys stacking info whilst getting to know a record. And getting to know Exhion I certainly have over the course of the last two weeks, which ultimately lead to a vision from on high one cloudy night as these songs dropped hammer to anvil over and over again inside the empty halls of my cranium. Sisters and brothers, The Blacksmith MUST BE…..

It all makes perfect (*cough*) sense: It’s all too easy to picture a mustachioed hero with a flowing mane crafting these songs, and why would Yanni—crowned monarch supreme of classical / soft rock / new-age crossover—want his discerning legions to know just how much the following records mean to him:

I think what Yanni perhaps does not realize, however, is the fact that metal fans absolutely MUST have been interspersed throughout that Live At the Acropolis crowd, because wherever there are 5000 Greeks gathered, approximately 500 of them listened to Manowar’s Into Glory Ride on the way to the event. So, yeah, be open about your metal face, Yannster, and be proud of what you accomplished with Exhion because, for an initial expedition as the sole architect, the album is a hell of a triumphant accomplishment.

And when I say Forsaker Of The Throne is a one-person project, I mean that in the TRUEST sense of the phrase: The Blacksmith is in charge of all the instrumentation here—guitar, bass, keys, programmed drums (shhhh, I promise it’ll be alright)—plus the vocals, the notably sunless cover artwork, the band’s logo, AND the record’s production. Pertinent bit of side info: I often somewhat aggressively make a point of underscoring the fact that one-person metal projects are typically a difficult sell for me, but Exhion won itself a quick stamp of approval because… Well, for fuck’s sake, just look at that collage of potential influences up there!

More specifically, what I enjoy quite a bit about this album, beyond the fact that The Blacksmith proves himself to be quite adept as a “storyteller” class of songwriter (seamless flow between songs, terrifically engaging and cozy atmosphere, etc.), is how impressive this dude is at riffing. “Generally Impressed With Riffs” has been the Last Rites tagline since day one, so albums that opt to underscore that side of the coin have a tendency to shoot straight into the spotlight.

Here, the riffing puts a terrific sense of melody at the forefront, and those riffs are imaginative, sharp, sometimes surprisingly swift, and always infectious. It’s a fairly murky production job, perhaps by design, and when paired with the overall bleak atmosphere and The Blacksmith’s vocal approach that pits Agyl (Scald) against Carl McCoy (Fields of the Nephilim), I would say connecting the dots between Will of the Gods is a Great Power and a record like Elizium isn’t as much of a stretch as it may seem on paper.

While I would say the bulk of Exhion is spent trotting at a slower clip that’s well suited for an epic doom tag, there are also moments where a distinct shot in the arm gives the overall mood more of that revitalized USPM feel that made a record like The Armor of Ire jump off the shelves. The hard-hitting “The Deserter” and the absurdly catchy “Resistance to Evil By Force,” for example, and certainly the molten spray of “Dungeon Witch,” which also spotlights The Blacksmith’s knack for fiery but never overly showy leads.

I’m guessing the production will be the biggest sticking point for the sticklers out there. It is… fairly watery, distant and at times feels a bit like you’re swinging wildly with blood-packed ears in the midst of combat. I think it actually adds to the uniqueness of the album in a similar way that the production for Queensrÿche’s The Warning preserves its eccentricity all these years later. I am, however, rather forgiving of peculiar production choices as quirks on the whole, and I find that the weirdly humid production here adds further depth to the keyboard atmospherics and helps mollify the (well-) programmed drums.

I have no clue what sort of goal(s) this faceless project had in mind, but I suspect based on the sparse footprint, anonymity and general lack of publicity that Exhion wasn’t really designed to make a planetary splash leading to a deal with Metal Blade Records. And chums, that is very often exactly the sort of thing that lands square inside the Last Rites wheelhouse, as we have long championed the “if you build it, we will come” attitude towards tracking down and celebrating the underground’s underest underdogs. Bottom line: Whoever the hell is actually responsible for this project just snuck in a rather unique eleventh hour jewel with Exhion.

P.S. It ain’t Yanni. OR IS IT…