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Via Independent
Words by Annette Geneva
There are heavy records that exist simply to flatten you, tire you out and weigh you down…but there are also records like Sink Towards the Light, which drag you into the deepest trench they can find, leave you there long enough to make peace with the dark, and somehow return you to the surface breathing a little easier. For a debut album, that’s a remarkable thing.
Hobart’s own In Throes have been steadily carving out a reputation with their blend of post-metal, blackgaze and atmospheric heaviness, but Sink Towards the Light feels like the moment everything clicks into place. Self-recorded in Tasmania, the seven-track record stretches across forty-one immersive minutes where crushing riffs coexist with moments of fragile beauty, never feeling forced or performative or overexposed.
Opening piano instrumental Rain Down hangs like gathering weather before Sea of Guilt erupts into wall of sound guitars and desperate growl-like vocals. It’s the sound of carrying weight you can no longer pretend isn’t there. Abyss expands that feeling for nearly 7 minutes, balancing bleakness with sweeping melodies that owe as much to post-hardcore as they do black metal.
The emotional centre of the album arrives with Bury Me – the first single. Rather than chasing brutality for its own sake, In Throes accept that the heaviest moments are often the quiet ones, where grief, self-loathing and acceptance all occupy the same space. The band’s songwriting never loses sight of melody, making every crescendo feel earned instead of inevitable.
By the time Devoid, the monumental title track, and the closing A Home Once Golden unfold, the album has completed the journey promised by its name. This is an album about learning to exist within darkness long enough to recognise the smallest glimmer ahead. Hope doesn’t arrive like a flare or a light switch here, it’s not immediate. It flickers like the last light caught on icy Tasmanian water.
What makes Sink Towards the Light especially impressive is its sense of scale. The production feels expansive despite being self-recorded, with every layer given room to breathe while maintaining the raw emotional intensity that defines the band’s sound and this album trusts the songs to carry their own emotional gravity. And oh boy, they do.
And then there’s the milestone that shouldn’t go unnoticed. For an independent Tasmanian metal band to break into the ARIA Top 50 Australian Artist Albums Chart is enormous. It’s the kind of achievement that reaches well beyond the local scene, proving that uncompromising heavy music made at the edge of the world can resonate nationally and even internationally, I’m sure. That’s not just a win for In Throes. It’s a win for Tasmanian heavy music as a whole.
One of Australia’s finest heavy releases of the year, and a debut that announces In Throes as a band capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the country’s best.
Album is currently available on all streaming platforms.
