Trial by Ordeal

The German underground is huge and it is impossible to be aware of all the great bands producing quality material. That makes it even more satisfying whenever you discover a promising new outfit, presenting a neat little gem to the metal audience. One such act I have recently stumbled upon are Black Thyria, hailing from Germany. After an EP from 2015 they have released their full length debut titled “Trial by Ordeal”, which is a great piece of dark and crushing music.

On the surface there is nothing really new to be found on. This is another one of those examples where a solid and traditional death metal basis is enhanced by some blackish epics and a few doomy passages. However, each song has remarkable trademark chords that are hitting hard and that are presented with just enough variation to keep things fresh enough over the whole playing time. The star of the show might be the lead guitar work, which is phenomenal in places with harmonies ranging from melancholic and hypnotic to bleak and nihilistic. The atmosphere is very dense, making the listener feel like being dragged into the void by some obscure forces.

The drumming is on point and - although sometimes more technical and complex - thankfully never too chaotic or nervous. Even when the tempo is upped everything stays in line and the clear structure of each song is followed until the end. There are some blast-beat sections and a few tempo changes, but they are only used in certain moments. Most of the time the beat has a nice and straight groove, which makes the tracks quite accessible.

While the instrumentation is very professional the album is more about delivering an atmospheric and stringent piece of music than about technical prowess. Nearly each song has some parts in which the instrumentation is toned down to make place for more ambient sections. Most of the time the tempo is kept in mid-tempo, with only a few speedier sections sprinkled across the record and also a lot of slower passages, with the music crawling out of the speakers. Black Thyria have a great feeling for building up tension by implementing all those haunting details and create an eerie and disturbing piece of music.

The vocal work is fantastic here, switching between very deep and cavernous growling and a raspy and screaming style (think Martin van Drunen etc.). The production is spot on, with the sound being organic and crisp, but no too compressed or sterile. I have been really impressed by the end result which sounds like the product of a much better known outfit. “Trial by Ordeal” has been a great surprise, and fans of death/doom metal absolutely need to check this album out. I am pretty sure we are going to see this band on a nice label with their next release.