Can we just say that the title’s not wrong and leave it at that?
thrown are more of an exercise than a band. Their whole M.O. is hardcore, nu-metal and metalcore with absolutely, positively no chance of waste or extraneous effort, though often at the expense of everything else they do. By design, there’s no room for them to branch out musically, and even though that’s been acknowledged by even the fans, thrown have done very well in spite of it. It’s almost purely ‘in spite of it’; very rarely will you hear a flat-out positive about thrown, especially in casual conversation. The three talking points are their short songs, samey output and savvy playlist placement, none of which are entirely positive attributes. And when each of those handily eclipses any discussion of thrown’s music, it begins to feel more like the results of a marketing algorithm.
At the same time, though, thrown appear to take a bit of umbrage towards those who’d suggest that. It’s probably why UNWANTED introduces itself with critic, not just to hit out at—who else?—critics, but to (in the band’s opinion, presumably) go deeper thematically. It doesn’t work, of course. Songs like this are ten-a-penny at the best of times, and even thrown’s cognitive dissonance is as route-one as it comes. “You think I give a shit? Never did, never will,” barks out Marcus Lundqvist, unaware of how little water that holds when he’s written an entire song about it. More to the point, this isn’t new or different. At all. It’s the same blunt anger that they always lash out with, redirected by a couple of degrees at best.
And that’s the much bigger elephant in the room—on UNWANTED, there’s been no advancement from thrown whatsoever, perhaps since inception. Maybe that’d be fine is this were just a band of lunkheaded hardcore bruisers who’d earned their stripes from that and that alone, but thrown are positioned as more. They were cracking millions of monthly streams on their debut; they’re comfortably in the bracket of metalcore’s top performing draws. But does that mean literally anything when this is what they’re putting out? Even if there are far worse bands in principle high up in the scene, few are as stunted as thrown.
UNWANTED, despite being another short addition to a canon that hasn’t even broached an hour in total, is not some slim, no-filler thing. Just like with EXCESSIVE PAIN before this one, thrown’s ability to drag and dissipate across so little material is actually quite wondrous. It beggars belief how a band can even operate like this sometimes, with no angle or clear direction besides ‘get in, get mad, get out’. And that’s really all you get from UNWANTED. It’s only memorable for what it is, not what it does. thrown are still with a staunch dislike for going over three minutes, making nu-deathcore that’s effectively interchangeable from track to track. The occasional soupçon of hip-hop production will crop up and tease another direction, only to be soundly quashed as soon as it arrives. A good rule of thumb when dealing with thrown, that—optimism gets you nowhere.
If that sounds unfair, blame the band; they’ve done nothing to alleviate it. It’s baked into thrown’s DNA at this point, the natural product of music so pared-down in terms of vision and outlook. As an instrumental vehicle, they could be a lot more. Lundqvist’s aggression is potent, as is the mean production that backs him. By the standards of groove-heavy, take-all-comers tough-guy music, there’s a decent nucleus within thrown. There always has been; the sound itself has never been the problem. But when that’s all there is, and thrown are so hell-bent on keeping it that way, you’re left with a band that’s fatally limited by no one’s stipulations but their own.
That’s exactly why thrown are a lot easier to talk around than about. It’s impossible to treat them as a ‘normal’ band when their baggage outweighs their output tenfold, and as UNWANTED now proves, that’s entirely the point. thrown aren’t evolving; all they are is the angry band with short songs and Spotify playlisters at their beck and call. If that’s where their fulfillment comes from, each to their own. But considering this is a commercial product—which all music is, at the end of the day—what is any listener gaining from this specifically? It’s hard to say, because thrown’s position as a band whose ‘achievements’ feel entirely meaningless doesn’t allow for examination like that. You’re just meant to accept that it’s great and move on to the next one. Y’know, like with all the best music…
For fans of: Boundaries, Paleface Swiss, Graphic Nature
‘UNWANTED’ by thrown is released on 6th November on Arising Empire.
Words by Luke Nuttall
