Into the Kingdom of Graves

With only a casual listening of their past albums and other releases, I only had a vague idea regarding Tyrants Blood’s sound. I was excited at the prospects of listening to an album that features ex-Blasphemy guitarist Marco Banco, who played on their seminal debut album ‘Fallen Angel of Doom….’; which any self-respecting extreme metal enthusiast whole-heartedly worships. Being the third studio album under their belt, I was curious to see to what extent the band had evolved or gained further control over their already cohesive sound.

The listener is greeted by a ritualistic, ambient dirge that features undecipherable waves of whispered spoken word that set an ominous atmosphere, which soon bleeds into the main track, ‘Spiral Sea’, which sets the tone for the album for the most part. Marco and crew make their extreme metal backgrounds very clear with an atmosphere that is dominated by unrelenting blasting that brings to mind fellow countrymen Blasphemy but also sonic descendants such as Angelcorpse, while the seemingly chaotic feel of the compositions brings to mind Impiety, in addition to the blackened sense of melodicity, whenever present. The technical leanings are not out of the realm of black/death metal bands, although there are certainly a few instrumentally challenging ideas that present a Sadus-like quality, as a song like ‘Conjure the Watcher’ reflects, resulting in an overall aesthetic mildly evocative of the likes of Destroyer 666. As a whole, minor but noticeable thrash metal tendencies are quite easily discernible.

The riff structures at large are majestic in a primal manner, although linear in their execution and phrasing during a given segment. That is not to say that this album lacks variety, but the pacing of the assault of the guitars are executed on very similar percussive foundations, that are almost an entirely blasting indulgence save for some mid-paced passages, which tracks like ‘Destroyer’ present. Tracks like ‘Decree of the Dead’ on the other hand do not compromise on the savage blast-beats but also add strategic pauses that add to the subtle percussive versatility. Marco Banco has an unmistakable knack for embedding tension and intensity into his riffs, as both the Tyrants Blood catalogue and his unforgettable axe work on ‘Fallen Angel of Doom….’ disclose. However, this man doesn’t seem to be always about leaning back on aggressive tremolo-based insanity, which the fantastic instrumental interlude ‘Within Outer Scars’ demonstrates, which is an ethereal mix of emotional leads and pleasant acoustic guitars. Vinnie Borden’s bass guitar work has a good number of individual moments that more than speak for his technical adroitness and capabilities with his instrument, and are very imperative to the overall sound of the band, dissipated and rumbling under the layers of uninterrupted and ruthless guitars. The vocals, which I believe are shared by Brian “Messiah” Langley and Borden alternate between thunderous roars and piercing screams. The fantastic vocal performance doesn’t warrant much of an analysis – very aggressive and in complete congruence with an already menacing atmosphere.

The strong points of this release are its incredible precision and it’s near flawless execution within a sonic mould that is often described as uncontrolled and chaotic. Memorability is not a term I’d specifically use for this release, but it has a fairly high re-play value and any fan of the black/death metal micro-genre (or as it is often called, ‘War Metal’) will absolutely lap up this release. Tyrants Blood seems to perpetually step-up their game from release to release from what I can discern, and I, for one, certainly look forward to more from these promising Canadian extreme metal archons.

Originally written for - Metalbase.in/MetalSpree