Tyrannus – Unslayable
Release Date: 22nd April 2022
Label: True Cult Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackened Thrash, Death Metal.
FFO: Nachtmystium, Absu, Nifelheim.
Review By: Rick Farley
Let’s see if this paints a good enough picture for everyone. If you were to take a bit of thrashy guitar from Killing is My Business, mix in a taste of Seven Churches from Possessed; add progressive elements from the band Death; get Jeff Walker on vocals and then severely blacken all that, that just may help me with this review. However, that’s not to say that Unslayable is a giant ball of confusion. On the contrary, this record is focused. It has a very Death Metal approach to it, with the other elements just seamlessly meshed in. Including a cleanly sung folky psychedelic part during the ending track Break the Will of Evil which transcends into an almost doomy melodious Black Metal vibe. A nice touch to the ending of the record.
Formed in 2018 in the United Kingdom; Scotland’s Tyrannus started as a duo comprised of Callum John Cant (guitars/bass/vocals) and Alasdair Dunn (drums) with the initial goal of making extreme music that sounded intense and captivating. After releasing a three-track demo in 2021, the band caught the attention of True Cult Records, who released the demo on cassette. They enlisted Fraser Gordon to play guitar and Alistair Harley on bass and began tracking for their debut album Unslayable. An album that masterfully combines the crushing attack of Thrash and Death Metal with elements of psychedelic and post Black Metal, as stated by the band themselves in their press release.
To be fair I do agree with their description, and I quite enjoy Unslayable, but it does have its problems. The album starts with instrumental track A Cruel Dream. It’s an airy, clean guitar that sustains the note at the end of each string passage. It’s one minute forty-eight seconds that doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s especially purposeless when it leads into the track A Worse Reality, which takes another minute and eighteen seconds before any vocals hit. That doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but it ends up being a full three minutes or so before you know where things are going. You’d be hard-pressed to even guess what type of Metal band this is, judging by the first three minutes of the record. The blackened Thrash of The Flood or the manic frenzy of It Taketh which has a Carcass like delivery vocally, should have kicked things off. Both tracks are standouts and would start things fast and brutal. Lake of the Undying is another head scratcher. It’s also an instrumental that’s nearly three minutes long and near the middle of the album. Basically, once the album really gets moving, the momentum is completely stopped by this doomy clean guitar track that serves no real purpose. Granted, both instrumentals musically fit within the context of the album and they’re not bad tracks per se, but I would much rather have another actual song. The album’s already short, so having two instrumentals is kind of a bummer. Anyway, off to the better stuff.
There’s a certain progressiveness that’s present within the songs. The tracks take you on a journey of dark and vicious, but also wistful and sombre. Amongst all the harsh atmospheres of jagged edged thrashy riffs, furious drums and raspy growls there’s an infectious Heavy Metal spirit that harkens back to simpler days of Metal. Its blackened nastiness often leads to quieter melodic passages, full of melancholy and lush melodies, only to return to a simple but extremely savage rawness. It all sounds very familiar, but still distinctly fresh. You can clearly hear the bands eclectic influences, and they wear them well. Full on old school sounding blackened Thrash/Death Metal with a firm grasp on catchiness and songwriting is going to seriously bang some heads. I fully believe this band has a bright future ahead of them, and I did enjoy the album. One more actual song and maybe different track placement, and we’re in serious business.
(4 / 5)
