Last September I came across a self-released, three-track digital EP, the first record of a new Swedish band named Zatyr. As a faithful homage to certain flavors of old-school heavy metal, and with clean singing dominating the vocals, it shouldn’t have made a positive impression on one whose tastes don’t normally lean in those directions, but Ornament of Proposition certainly did, and I wasted no time singing its praises here. At the end of that impulsive review I wrote:
“As for the music, it’s immediately infectious, and deliciously dynamic. The riffs are damned compulsive, the melodies are full of hooks, the soloing is fantastic, the rhythm section know what the hell they’re doing. It’s the kind of stuff that makes grown men lift their invisible oranges to the heavens. In short, Zatyr are a huge surprise, a bolt from the blue. It hardly seems possible this is their first release. I doubt it will take long for the word to spread and the fans to come thronging”.
That last line turned out to be an accurate prediction. Word has indeed spread, and it will spread further because on May 22nd Dying Victims Productions will release Zatyr’s eye-opening EP on noble vinyl, which will include not only the three original songs but a fourth track as a bonus — a track we’re premiering today.
Ornament of Proposition does traffic in classic heavy metal, though it’s a patently infernal take on the style to be sure. The vocalist Set (ex-Devil Lee Rot) has a powerful set of pipes, but proves himself capable of veering from clean song that soars to bestial growls that come for your guts, and screams that sound downright demonic, though the emotional fervor he expresses is red-hot at all times. And the riffs… the riffs are killer. This bonus track we’re presenting today is a fine example.
“Heart and Vision” is anchored by a riff that pulses with vibrancy, matched by an equally compulsive back-beat. Zatyr inject bursts of fast, skittering fretwork and urgent rhythmic jabs in the midst of that head-moving through-line, as well as an episode of booming drums and mysterious melody. And there is both mystery and fierce intensity in the vocals as well, while the guitar solo, which becomes a scintillating dual-axe harmony, adds its own old magic to these old-school fist-pumping sounds.
In characterizing the EP Dying Victims‘ publicist references such names as early Running Wild, Mercyful Fate, Omen, Brocas Helm, Death SS, and even Bathory’s transition from Blood Fire Death to Hammerheart. But you can draw your own conclusions, not only from the track we’re premiering today but also from another song that’s now back up on Bandcamp, “Fire Prophecy“, a stream of which we’re also including below.
Dying Victims is releasing the EP in one version on black vinyl, with insert, poster, sticker, post card, and download code, and a second version on colored vinyl along with those other items, plus a woven patch. Check out all the options via the links below:
PRE-ORDER:
https://shop.dying-victims.de/
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/zatyr-ornament-of-proposition
ZATYR:
https://www.facebook.com/ZATYR-2168963899857373/