Sept. 26 marks the release date for Upon Tall Thrones, the third full-length from Italian dark-arts conjurors Warcoe, who align for the first time with Ripple Music with tapes through Morbid and Miserable. And like their work to this point, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Stefano Fiorelli, bassist Carlo and drummer Francesco dig wholeheartedly into a nuanced but still Sabbathian heavy. A doom that rocks that isn’t typical doom rock, and a doom that, using tangential Electric Wizardry as a bridge, is able to veer into more stonerly fuzz worship — see “The Wanderer” early and parts throughout the back half of the record — without losing its heft or cultish weirdness.

At nine songs/37 minutes, Upon Tall Thrones trades out the epic closer of 2023’s A Place for Demons (review here) for the more-compact-but-still-plenty-grand finale “Dark Into Light” — also the longest inclusion at 5:42, and an adventure besides — and while that’s in line with their debut, 2022’s The Giant’s Dream (review here), it nonetheless represents the general tightening of songcraft across the board. Whether it’s a darker piece like “I’ve Sat Upon Tall Thrones (But I’ll Never Learn)” (video premiering below, I hope) with a grunge twist in its chorus and a sense of the sinister that borders on aggressive without ever tipping over into caricature. At the album’s outset, “Octagon” establishes a patient roll and then almost immediately contrasts it with gallop. The effect this has on loosening expectations shouldn’t be understated when it comes to taking it on front-to-back.

Warcoe make that endeavor easy and fascinating. There is depth to what they do. There are elements in their sound and atmosphere one could trace to the likes of Judas Priest, Celtic Frost, Pagan Altar, and there are times where they come across in a way that wouldn’t have been out of place among the keepers of traditional doom on Hellhound Records in the 1990s. At the same time, there is an intricacy to their approach — it’s not all as straightforward as it sounds, here or on either of their other two records — and to their style that makes them difficult to place and lets them play around with the boundaries of genre as they will. The two-minute acoustic piece “Gather in the Woods” is paired with the keyboard-infused doom-chug march of the centerpiece, “Flame in Your Hand,” and because that fulcrum track happens also to be instrumental, Upon Tall Thrones finds a way to hypnotize despite the relatively straight-ahead crux of the material.

The setup works, and “Spheres” slaps back to something resembling reality, but the plot has shifted. Watery, almost Monolordian, vocals echo over riffs alternately boogieing, despondent or slacker-shoving, and hints of a more psychedelic lean are dropped. “Deepest Grave” accounts for this as well, but with more of the previously-noted, comparatively light Electric Wizard influence in its roll, and the penultimate “Brown Witch” is a poised heavy rocker that draws together the heft and the space thus far wrought in the songs. Digging deeper into the groove for the chorus, they’re careening by the end of the track, with Fiorelli‘s voice in layers carrying the melody, which feels transgressive of doom’s darkness but is heavy just the same. The title I’ll assume refers to “Brown” in the sense of Radagast the Brown from Lord of the Rings, referring to nature and dealing with the organic world, rather than someone’s skin color. I don’t have a lyric sheet, so that’s a choice I’ve made.

And in some days, “Dark Into Light” is the story of the record itself, ending as it does with metallic poise, weighted tones, a darker ambience at the outset and clear ambitions beyond as it progresses. It’s not a summary in terms of sound or tone necessarily, but it adds to the pastiche of the whole effort and is a signal of intentions toward continued growth on the part of Warcoe, whose identity is more vividly their own in this material than it’s ever been. The development that’s led them to this point has seen them become weirder and farther reaching in their songs. Upon Tall Thrones is declarative in the sense of encompassing and showcasing that identity, but the dark progressivism underlying these tracks does not feel like the sort to let its restlessness go now either.

That is to say, the sense across Upon Tall Thrones isn’t that Warcoe aren’t pushing themselves to try new things in their songs or explore different ideas — it’s pretty clear they are — but that where sometimes that process ebbs and a band settles into a sometimes-limiting self-conception of ‘their sound,’ Warcoe up to now have taken lessons from each outing and used them to move forward. A third full-length is a landmark in the life of most bands, and it may be for Warcoe as well, but it’s also part of a larger story the band are telling of their ongoing evolution.

Below you’ll find the video premiere for “I’ve Sat Upon Tall Thrones (But I’ll Never Learn),” followed by more info from the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Warcoe, “I’ve Sat Upon Tall Thrones (But I’ll Never Learn)” video premiere

Hailing from Pesaro, Italy, Warcoe drags classic doom into the abyss and back with Sabbathian weight, Saint Vitus’ raw gloom, and the swagger of Trouble’s golden-era riffage. Since 2021, the trio has carved a niche in the underground with a sound that’s both a homage to the old gods and a fresh hell of its own: slow-burning, groove-heavy, and laced with stoner metal venom.

Their 2021 debut, “The Giant’s Dream”, emerged like a monolith from the depths, earning praise within the scene before Regain Records unleashed it on vinyl and CD — a fitting resurrection for an album steeped in doom’s primordial essence. The 2023 follow-up, “A Place for Demons”, proved Warcoe wasn’t just a relic revival act but a true force to be reckoned with. Landing at #2 on Doom Charts’ Best of December and #37 for the entire year, the album masterfully fused Trouble’s anthemic might with the creeping dread of Pentagram, all while swinging like Saxon in a candlelit crypt.

Now, with their third album and Ripple Music debut “Upon Tall Thrones”, Warcoe ascends — darker, heavier, and more hypnotic — as they spin tales of arcane fantasy and mortal frailty into riffs that crush and melodies that linger like a curse.

WARCOE “Upon Tall Thrones”
Out September 26th on Ripple Music (LP/CD/digital)
Preorder: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/upon-tall-thrones

Tracklisting:
1. Octagon
2. The Wanderer
3. I’ve Sat Upon Tall Thrones (But I’ll Never Learn)
4. Gather in the Woods
5. Flame in Your Hand
6. Spheres
7. Deepest Grave
8. Brown Witch
9. Dark Into Light

Warcoe:
Stefano Fiorelli – guitars and vocals
Carlo – bass
Francesco – drums

Warcoe on Bandcamp

Warcoe on Instagram

Warcoe on Facebook

Ripple Music website

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Instagram

Ripple Music on Facebook

Morbid and Miserable Records website

Morbid and Miserable Records store

Morbid and Miserable Records on Bandcamp

Morbid and Miserable Records on Instagram

Morbid and Miserable Records on Facebook

Tags: Italy, Morbid and Miserable Records, Pesaro, Ripple Music, Upon Tall Thrones, Warcoe, Warcoe Upon Tall Thrones

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2025 at 4:14 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.