From the icy lands of Halifax, Nova Scotia lies one of Canada’s best-kept secrets: Ancient Thrones! On the heels of their latest album The Veil being released last November, the blackened death metal band is here with an exclusive dual guitar playthrough for their track “Divided/Dissolve”, only right here, on Gear Gods!
Fusing the intensity of traditional black metal with the modern stylings and production of death metal and tech death, “Divided/Dissolve” has a little bit of something for everyone. From the massive tremolo sections and bludgeoning riffs to the surprisingly melodic harmonies between guitarists Dylan Wallace and Nick Leslie, Ancient Thrones have definitely honed in on something special with this track.
And as for the gear, here’s what the dudes are running:
Dylan Wallace:
“My rig on this record was pretty simple, I play an LTD H1 with EMGx’s in the neck and bridge, I use the D’Addario NYXL’s 10-52’s. Then through my pedalboard (more on that below), and then into a Mesa Boogie Mark V plugged into a Port City 212 cab, mic’d up with a Shure SM7B. I really appreciate the versatility of the Mark V and have found it suitable for any gig, from the lounge gig to the metal tones heard on “The Veil”. Like I said above, I’m all about versatility, so when it comes to my pedalboard I kind of have the exact opposite philosophy as Nick does. I love the wild tap dance of working with a big board full of crazy sounds. I like coming up with sounds on the fly and slightly tweaking things from time to time, and I love having instant access to these ideas. I usually always have my Diamond Compressor (Local pedal company here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) and the Maxon OD808 on at all times. I use the Diamond Quantum Leap for all my delay and modulation tones, a ChaseBliss Dark World for some magical reverb, and a Boss RC30 loop station for some live looping in a few tunes. As well as a myriad of other wacky and wonderful pedals to spice things up a bit. Thanks for reading and I hope you dig the record! Thank you!”
Nick Leslie:
“In this song, it’s my 2018 Gibson SG special T, into a treble booster preset in my Source Audio Kingmaker fuzz. Amp-wise, I used my Peavey JSX head, into a custom 212 cab, mic’d with a Shure SM7B. I’ve always preferred a more raw, vintage texture to my sound, while still being tight, articulate, and heavy. This combination really helped me achieve the sound in my head, so to speak. At the end of the track, you hear my guitar pitched down an octave with my old line 6 m5, which is now achieved with my HX Effects live. In moving to the HX Effects, I now run my live rig with full midi control from a DAW session, keeping us perfectly in time with the click, and taking care of all the switching for me. Given the breakneck pace of most of our songs, I much prefer keeping both feet on the floor and focusing on the performance.”
Be sure to follow Ancient Thrones on Facebook and Instagram, and stream The Veil on Bandcamp and Spotify!
