Our Great Undoing

Tyranny Enthroned is a black/death metal act from St. Lousi who've been busting heads for quite a while looking to leave their own personal mark/impact on the Midwest metal scene. That could be a tall order to fulfill, unfortunate truth be told, but their rise from local trouble-doers to masters of their musical craft has been a slow burn that's resulted in attention being gained and stages being conquered. As I've noticed, anyway, though I may have been late to the party seeing as their second offering, "Our Great Undoing", is my first exposure to their method of madness...

When it comes to their sophomore release, "Our Great Undoing" is a sharp and vicious slab of extreme metal nastiness. Their blend of styles comes off as more groovy and rather thrash-like, relying more on rhythmic violence and good sense of dynamics without resorting to a blur of noise/sound; dashes of Cannibal Corpse meeting touches of old-world Morbid Angel during a harsh winter's night, if you will. The sound presented is delightfully old school with a slick modern vibe with (thankfully) no sense of coreness to be heard and thereby preventing it from sounding too long in the tooth or attempting to dredge up a long-chronicled past in a transparent way (and trust me, there have been quite a few group and albums that have done so only to pratfall...). The level of performance has a good mid-level of energy without overdoing it or being too lethargic; one can tell that the group has a sense of what they want to accomplish on a stylistic level, yet the presentation is a bit uneven at times in terms of the instrumentation (the guitars and bass are tight enough, but every once in a while they seem deviate from one another and the drums, which fight to maintain order and control all throughout).

There's a good sense of songwriting/arrangement comprehension; movement and arrangement schemes follow one another fluidly rather than being a haphazard collection of riffs that don't always coalesce. This in itself results in focus being maintained throughout the songs as the album progresses...for the most part. Some of the tracks tend run a bit too long for their own good, feeling like they overstay their welcome with too much unsubstantial padding adding an extra minute or so that isn't necessary, but up to that point it's all good, violent fun. That said, though I found the black metallish segments to be the ones that had the most to offer (e.g. the majority of "Interpreter of Dreams" and the title track) and show off the better ideas the group shoots for. The death riffing is fine for what it is, but it does feel as though the dark minor key progressions are the ones that the most amount of solidity in themselves. The album production is also decently done, clear and thick if a bit low-endy in the mix and lacking of power with the drumwork (you can hear it, but you can't really feel its impact, if you will), but I know it could have worse; consistent exposure to lesser-tier death metal acts have proven that plenty of times, so it's nothing to ultimately knock the album for.

At the end of the day "Our Grand Undoing" appears to have something for every extreme metal fellas out there striving for a precise cudgeling. One will find plenty to enjoy and appreciate, if this is your cup of blood, that is, and I'll admit that my attention has been improperly snagged and throttled. Well done, indeed.