Away from the Haunts of Men (Thrall album)

Thrall
Thrall, previously called “Thy Plagues”
Background information
Origin	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Genres	Black metal
Years active	2005–2015
Labels	Moribund Cult Records, Total Holocaust Records, Obsidian Records Eisenwald Records
Associated acts	Ruins, The Grimm
Website	Official Myspace Website Official Website

Thrall (formerly known as Thy Plagues) is a black metal band formed in Hobart, Tasmania, currently signed to Moribund Records.

Thrall began as Tom Void's solo, drum-machine black metal project in 2005. In this guise, a demo titled Wrath Eternal - a punishing, reverb-soaked, Leviathan-esque four-track recording, limited to only 20 CD-R copies - was released. Void recruited Em Støy to provide a bass accompaniment to the drum machine for live shows.

For their first album, Away from the Haunts of Men, Tom Void played all instruments, and programmed the drums. When recording the first album, the decision was made to change the band name to Thrall. The album featured guest vocals by Alex Pope from Ruins and Trent Griggs, the studio engineer and one-man black metal band Throes. In return, Void contributed vocals to the Ruins album Cauldron The album was released on Total Holocaust Records (Sweden) in June 2010 in Europe in a lavish, silver-foiled digi-pack edition limited to 500 copies. Later a North American edition was released by Moribund Records[1] (USA), with an enhanced CD featuring a film clip made by Janssen Herr (a fellow Tasmanian residing in Sweden). Reviews noted the “dark, atmospheric” feel of the album, Void’s throat-butchering singing style, and the varied feels and paces of the songs.

Void and Støy relocated to Osaka, Japan, in 2008, while the first album was being mixed. Støy moved to drums and the band recruited a live bass player, Rob Crompton, to enable Thrall to make the switch from studio band to a live band. Void and Støy also experimented with a two-piece line up at several shows.