Reptil - Throne Of Collapse album review

Freshly hatched and thoroughly pissed-off, Reptil emerge with a brooding track debut that aspires to channel mystical, ancient rituals and dark, multidimensional realms through their nightmarish industrial vision. In fact, the German metallers have created a wholly familiar, generic slab of early 90s alt-metal that bears more than a passing resemblance to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. Trudging the well-worn path of whispered, creepy verses leading into ginormous buzzsaw choruses, Reptil dutifully employ every tool in the alt-metal drawer. At times it works. First single Soulride pounds along with a swinging, Rob Zombie-esque chug, but what Throne Of Collapse badly lacks is any hint of a memorable hook or massive shout-out chorus. The epic, seven-minute title track is a sprawling, slowbuilding industrial dirge that leads you round and round without ever getting to the big, fuck-off climax that the song so desperately needs. In this sense, Reptil are almost experimental in their defiant refusal to deliver something – anything – to hook the listener in. Throw on Pretty Hate Machine instead.