TYRANOSORCERESS: “SHATTERING LIGHT’S CREATION”

 

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the debut album by the Texas band Tyrannosorceress.)

A couple of weeks back I got caught up in a… let’s call it a “discussion”, for the sake of politeness… with a certain individual about whether or not all Black Metal bands have to ascribe to a certain “ideology” or ethos in order to actually be counted as Black Metal.

Now this question is nothing new – it’s been argued back and forth for eons (well, eons in internet years), with no definitive answer in sight – yet it still retains its strange power to fascinate, provoke, and repulse in equal measure.

Take even a small sub-section of Black Metal fandom and you’ll undoubtedly find as many different opinions on this matter as there are individuals to hold them, from those who believe that all Black Metal should be all-Satan, all the time, to those who’ll settle for just a general anti-Christian (or, more broadly, anti-religion) approach, to those who feel that the focus should be purely on nihilism/nature-worship/none-of-the-above, and most of whom will soundly reject any suggestion to the contrary as not being “true” Black Metal.

I don’t have an answer for this conundrum myself. In fact I’m not even sure there is one, seeing as how some of the most seminal and respected figures in the scene itself all seem to have different ideas and opinions on the matter.

But I know what I like. And I like this album.

 

 

Of course the band’s rather tongue-in-cheek (if undeniably eye-catching) name is bound to be a point of contention – although is it really any less silly than calling yourselves Goatwhore? – but thankfully the music itself more than holds up under close scrutiny, with tracks like emphatic opener “Haunting Black Divinity” and the rapacious “The Call to Chaos” demonstrating that not only are the quintet deadly serious when it comes to their craft, but that, when push comes to shove, they’re more than capable of going toe-to-toe with many of their more famous and more established peers.

Tracks like the labyrinthine “In The Light of the Sabbat Moon” and the strangling “The Angles Nine”, for example, see the group unleashing a veritable maelstrom of torrid riffs and withering blastbeats, grisly, growling vocals, and strangely evocative melodies, all wrapped up in an impressive, if not a little oppressive, shroud of grim and gloomy atmosphere.

The execution throughout is on point, with the guitar work of Daniel Hearne and William Baxter being particularly praiseworthy, the duo displaying a knack for savagely intense, subtly intricate riffery – as well as a surprisingly deft, yet suitably sinister, melodic touch – which allows them to fill each track with a multitude of virulent hooks and viscerally memorable moments without scaling back on the heaviness or aggression in the process.

Concluding with the mammoth, eleven-and-a-half minute “Senescent and Supreme”, an imposing and multifaceted gem which serves to highlight the group’s proggier, doomier, inclinations (while also providing them with ample space and time to unleash their own distinctive brand of blackened metallic hell), in the final reckoning Shattering Light’s Creation proves to be something of an unexpected diamond in the rough, and well worth checking out if you’re looking for a band who play Black Metal firmly on their own terms, and who, quite frankly my dear, don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of them.

Bandcamp:
https://tofucarnagerecords.bandcamp.com/album/shattering-lights-creation

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Tyrannosorceress/