Mar 032022
 

(Andy Synn catches up with a few things you may have missed last month)

Is it just me or – after two years where time itself seemed to grind to a soul-crushing halt – does 2022 seem to be trying to throw everything at us all at once?

Honestly, it feels like I’ve barely had time to turn around and two months have already passed me by, leaving a ridiculous number of artists and albums unremarked and unreviewed.

Heck, I didn’t even do one of these columns for January (though if I had, it would probably have included Directional, Dysnerved, Mathan, and Wiegedood) so I’m even more behind than I thought.

It doesn’t help that February was absolutely packed with impressive new releases – including a number of unexpected surprises – so picking what and who to feature in this article was more difficult than usual this time (though, don’t I say that every time?).

Still, I hope you’ll like at least some of what I’ve chosen to feature today, which includes two bands from a little bit outside our usual spectrum, and two more overtly extreme artists making their long-awaited comeback after an eight year absence!

Continue reading »

Dec 232014
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new second album by Tyranny Enthroned from St. Louis, Missouri.)

Tyranny Enthroned are one of America’s best death metal newcomers.

That could be viewed as a bit of a hyperbolic statement, but to me it’s absolutely true. I was already in love with the band’s debut Born of Hate, which I have reviewed here, but their sophomore opus Our Great Undoing cements them as a death-dealing titan worth watching.

It would be odd for me to quantify how this album functions as a sophomore release, especially considering just how important the second album is in any band’s career to either showing their stuff or getting dismissed. A lot has changed, and at the same time nothing has. The Polish influences of Behemoth and Hate are still a core of their sound, and they do maintain that layer of American militarism, but their riffing and songwriting is much less derivative and is now molding and establishing more of a definitive identity for them. Continue reading »

Jan 102014
 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review of the 2012 debut album by Tyranny Enthroned.)

“Polish imperialism meets American grit” is pretty much what sums up Tyranny Enthroned on their debut Born of Hate.  They hail from St. Louis, Missouri, and their blistering brand of caustic blackened death is a solid, tried and true approach by a band who’ve got their songwriting chops honed and fine-tuned like long time vets.  This shit is like a sonic napalm run, hell from above and below, with all the ferocity and dignity of a chimera of legend.

The band is a four-piece comprising front man and guitarist Jesse McCoy, bassist Anthony George, drummer Steve Lee, and second guitarist Winston Alvarez (Alvarez is credited as “session/live guitarist” on their Facebook), and together these guys bring it fucking hard.  The Polish imperialism meets American grit statement can be basically broken down to this: Polish speed, melody, and percussive excess, accompanied by more American technicality and explosive attacks.  They bring the two worlds of the pristine royal Polish sound and the American unrestrained violence together very well, creating a debut that is, to say the least, impressive. Continue reading »