Aktaion Streaming Full "Throne" Album

Sweden's Aktaion just released the "Throne" album, which can be heard in full through the player below.

"'Throne' is in a lot of ways an album done backwards.” The journey that guitarist Francis Larsson has traveled since the inception of Aktaion in 2010 has been long and confusing, involving much in the way of writing and rewriting material, especially once you factor in the three other musicians brought onboard.

The album has undergone many evolutions, and keyboardist Jonatan Ney recalls one such example: “When Francis invited me to the project, I was to be the keyboardist of the band. I remember him bringing finished songs to me, written for two guitars, packed with interesting riffs and licks. The problem for me was to bring all these parts to the keyboard. Some riffs just ain't meant to be played with keys.”

The solution was to create whole new melodies to complement the riffs, but “in the end we felt that the sound became too symphonic. So I saddled up with my guitar instead, rearranged most of keyboard themes, and rerecorded them. The sound was so much more in your face, and the melodies really brought the songs to life.”

The whole band stands by the album as a statement of intent. Bassist Axel Croné comments, “After all of the tweaking and arranging we've shaped a very brutal and powerful musical statement, that I believe is both original and heaviest of the heavy. You feel when it's the time to go full force into a project, and this is that time.”

Vocalist Jonas Snäckmark brings in a sense of camaraderie with this final statement: “There are no other guys that I want to play this sort of bombastic and brutal music with!”

1. M.A.D. Ass Of A Catfish
2. Prison Walls
3. For All The Things That We Are!
4. The Cure
5. The Disease
6. Thousands (Ulver - “Blinded By Blood” Cover)
7. Sense Of Throne