THRALL - Aokigahara Jukai, LP

On Aokigahara Jukai, Thrall successfully articulates misanthropy without hypocrisy. By blending traditional black metal elements, with doom, death metal and crust influences, Thrall creates unique, memorable music. The trajectory of the album takes the listener on an unrelenting furious void-ward journey from the opening track to the final deathlike strains of emptiness. Coupled with the artwork’s aesthetic qualities of smothering detail, Aokigahara Jukai is an immensely compelling document of unrivalled intensity and intent.

Mastered for vinyl by Billy Anderson at Everything Hz, Portland, USA.
Illustrations by Tom Void, Layout by Lachlan Conn.

A side:
Longing For Death 05:49
Aokigahara Jukai 07:04
Of Hate 05:48

B side:
Its Toothless Maw 04:41
Ubasute 05:41
The Pact 07:04
Ghost Chrysalides 01:52
Slaves 7:42* bonus track only via download

"There is great beauty to be found in the ugly, if you want to look hard enough – in force, in desolation, in inevitable death and decay, as much as in vitality. Thrall’s Aokigahara Jukai is a polychotomous testament of supporting evidence. For a concept album exploring themes related to, dedicated to, Japan’s suicide forest, there’s a subtle elegance here. It peeks out from beneath the ubiquitous sonic violence and unchecked misanthropy, but it’s there – wildflower buds beginning to sprout up from a field of putrefying corpses. As completely heretical and antithetical as it is to utter this, Aokigahara Jukai is hands-down the most life-affirming record I heard in 2013." - LAST RITES - Kyle Harcötts Top 10

"So, Thrall is one of those bands that gives me chills when I listen to them as they have so many of the sounds that a love and want to create as well. Part Crust, Doom, Sludge, Black, Drone, Prog and Noise, all at the same time and all at different times. There is even Thrash moments thrown in for good measure. If Kreator, Eyehategod, and Marduk decided to have a band with members of Swans and Sonic Youth, this is where Thrall would come from. It's almost where I saw Twilight heading before their demise. It's where bands like Mayhem and Saytricon are heading and where bands like Manes, Code and Ishahn has just moved past. Post Metal with Black and Doom movements with a love of fractured sounds and the notes between the notes in the way Noise and Jazz meet." - ABSOLUTE ZERO MEDIA

"Thrall ...crosses genres, with black metal the most dominant, but with doom, sludge, and even post-metal in the mix as well. The song has a dark atmosphere throughout, but it rocks as much as it ravages." - NO CLEAN SINGING