Frustration and pain can be daunting to face, significantly more difficult to conquer, and the emotions that result from these experiences can lead us to trouble. People make rash decisions, lash out, sometimes do dangerous things, and a lot of that has to do with not having an outlet to release the pressure. It’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean much if a trail of carnage results.

Taking on “Forged in Chaotic Spew,” the first full-length from Phoenix crushers Thra, feels like all of that vitriol and anger captured in nine tracks. While this is their first full serving, they’ve put out smaller releases that hinted at where they were headed, but this album is that explosion of emotions realized. This combination is sludgy power and all-out death metal sounds like the perfect outlet for this band—vocalist/guitarist Robert Wolfe, guitarist Matt Marquette, bassist/vocalist Zach Nixon-Sandberg, drummer Grey Smith. This record is the perfect way to express this negativity and release the demons welled up inside, which is all over this tumultuous collection that breathes fucking fire.

“Flame Lurker” (a version of which was on their 2020 EP) opens the record with a burly boil, vicious howls raining down, bludgeoning and making a mess of the blood that’s pooling. The playing drubs and gets muddier, bashing away with morbid force, finally scratching out into noise. “Fracture” burns, feeling molten and sludgy, landing heavy body blows that quickly bruise. Howls rip as piledriver-heavy shots land with force, sweltering and scrambling brains before fading. “Terror Vessel Part 1” is a halo of sound, ominous and haunting, a strange interlude that swims into “Drag” that dawns as a sooty, furious beast. The pressure is sudden and insurmountable, crushing as the growls punish, opening up a thrashy pace that rips into wounds, eventually dissolving in an unforgiving fire.

“Blistering Eternity” is a massive force that brings beastly howls and a deathly thrust, the guitars turning on the fog machines. Things get more dangerous and warped, the playing encircling, mud caking quivering veins. The guitars rampage and shake, and a gargantuan assault gets under way, claiming bodies and bashing brains, only leaving once everything is fully consumed. “Vesuvian” is a quick but effective interlude with guitars boiling, noise sparking and twisting, and the pressure leading to “Primordial Engorgement” that arrives fully savage and sparking death snarls. The playing is infernal, smothering as growls punish and insult, the guitars taking tornadic bends, and the animosity building, cutting into any remaining sense of serenity. “Cosmic Scourge” rings out and stings before sinking its blade, throaty wails cutting into spinal columns. The playing swirls and bashes, making you deal with unmistakable pain and nausea together, and the crushing assault decimates, Wolfe screaming, “Escape from reality,” as the final boulder drops and pocks the earth. Closer “Terror Vessel Part 2” is a final interlude stitched together with sounds echoing, weird transmissions making your brain feel heavy and taxed, everything spiraling into the cosmos.

“Forged in Chaotic Spew” feels different from the start, ominous and mean, seeking some sort of retribution for all of the darkness that has landed in the past. Thra always had a firm grasp of death metal, but this time around, they take it even more seriously, spilling vitriol and pain into their music like they never have before. This feels like a self-exorcism, a chance to bleed all the hatred and pain from their bodies once and for all, everyone who made those wounds possible be damned.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Thraphx/

To buy the album, go here: https://translationloss.com/products/forged-in-chaotic-spew-lp

For more on the label, go here: https://translationloss.com/