If you were to look up the word throes in the dictionary, the definition found is overbearingly bleak; 'intense or violent pain and struggle, especially accompanying birth, death, or great change.' With this in mind, it's somewhat apt that Idaho based US band THROES have taken up this moniker. Formed from the ashes of Bone Dance, the five piece sludge and metallic hardcore merchants unleash their maleficent debut album 'In the Hands of an Angry God' on Holy Roar Records. Opener 'Bad Meat' picks up where 2014's EP 'To Dust' left off, with a barrage of down tuned guitars and ferociously caustic drums. It's immediately clear that 'In the Hands of an Angry God''s assault is harrowing on all counts, for a number of reasons - it has the familiarity of Gaza/Cult Leader's push/pull of grind and sludge coupled with the sonic density of Amenra and Neurosis, but it also feels more brutish in it's auditory premeditated violence. This becomes all the more revelatory as the runtime progresses.Album highlight 'Disillusion' tempers and channels the more explosive elements of their sound into a much slower and calculated attack, without losing any of the momentum built before it. Closing in devastating fashion 'Ruin' and 'Fang' provide a perfect encapsulation of what newcomers to the band will come to love, the balance of their two extremes are used to a devastating one-two effect. In the current landscape it's very easy to get lost in adjectives, so it's all the more potent that by the end of the albums runtime it's hard to not question whether you've been listening to a body of work or been subject to aggravated assault. It's just that nasty.