The Teeth Of Time, the latest album from Drouth, is a slab of music that is so claustrophobic, chaotic and perplexing, making a pretty swish album. From the first notes, the listener is taken on a rich atmospheric terrain of dissonance.
Drouth – The Teeth Of Time
Release Date: 16 May 2025
Words: Ash Nash
The Teeth Of Time is an evolution and strengthening of Drouth’s sound, one walking on a tightrope balance between ferocious brute force and a level of sophistication in terms of texture and form.
This is an album that will require complete focus, Matt Stikker and John Edwards’ double-guitar interchanges between jagged tremolo-picked rhythms, atonal chords, and beautiful but unsettling melodic simplicity.
Below Matt Solis’ bass work, convulses, creaks, and shifts, creating a sound depth tectonic in nature and not merely serving. Relentless but accurate, Patrick Fiorentino’s drumming provides not just naked speed but a profound comprehension of dynamics, feeling just where to let the weight of the music rest before striking again with exactitude. 
Drouth’s attention to composition and the surroundings makes The Teeth Of Time more than just a relentless record. It is a step above the norm for its genre. Vocalisations are visceral and varied, combining ghostly wails, pain howls, and underground growls, and they are shared by Stikker, Edwards, and Solis.
This impact is enhanced and given the depth of haunting intensity by the guest contributions of Laurie Sue Shanaman (Ails, Ludicra) on track three and Christy Cather (Ludicra, Feminazgûl) on tracks one and three.
One of the album’s notable special guests is Eva Vonne, whose viola playing on tracks two and four evokes a ghostly sadness that permeates the entire album. The album is a lesson in self-control, recorded by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Sleep, Leviathan) and mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx.
Large but never egotistical, the mix has a natural energy that enables the music to breathe. As the rhythm section keeps movement and depth level in check to make every note matter, the guitars cut through the mix with razor definition. Lyrically, The Teeth Of Time slices through issues of decay, fate, and the relentless march of time. However, this is not just acquiescence; this is rebellion, a refusal to simply give up to chaos.
Every relationship is crucial in the creation of this beast, every transition thought through. No gratuitous moments. Drouth have perfected the skill of manipulating and releasing tension, giving the listener only a few moments to catch their breath before launching them back into turbulence. The resulting record is both engrossing and oppressive, demanding attention instead of overpowering the listener.
With the biting teeth of time, Drouth have presented their strongest, most emotive work to date. Admiration for Ulcerate, Deathspell Omega, and Ludicra will certainly be returned by much of what this album has to offer, but it is by no means solely for them.
This is a richly, deeply immersive and absorbing experience that lingered long after the last notes withered away.
Drouth release The Teeth Of Time on 16 May 2025 via Eternal Warfare Records. For more details, visit Bandcamp.
