Tyrannic — Ethereal Sepulchre
The bands first Self-released cassette was recorded in 2013. Since then, Tyrannic has released one demo, one split and one EP(So there not the most prolific of bands). This brings our attention to the release at hand, their first full-length album, released on the Australian label Seance Records. Entitled Ethereal Sepulchre, the release is presented in the form of either a CD, tape, as well as in digital form. All of this you can order on the website or Bandcamp page of the label. Hurry up, at the time of writing the review, there are only 4 tapes left.
The album cover is a photo taken in black and purple. On it, we can see band members, who organized the photo session at the cemetery, among the high tombstones in the Victorian style. Three musicians stand in different poses. On the left is a guitarist whose face we do not see, but we can clearly see the pelvic bone of some animal, which this musician uses as a mask. In the middle is the band frontman (he is drummer/vocalist), holding a scythe in his hands. We also do not see his face. On the left, in a kneeling position in front of a huge tombstone with an angel on top, we can see the woman figure, she is a bass player.
It is also worth noting that the photo shoot was arranged near the grave of Australian politician John McManus. In the upper left corner is the black logo of the group, made in the style of the late 80s, that is, rather rough stylized letters, combined with the wings of a bat. The name of the album - Ethereal Sepulchre – does not appear on the cover. The design, in general, has an ironic feel to it, which of course somewhat tunes into the album's tone
So, the album, with a total duration of just under forty minutes, contains only four very long and saturated tracks. The shortest lasts six minutes, the longest - just over fourteen minutes. Looking ahead, I will say that the album turned out to be monolithic, in the same style, with rather rich and complex compositions, so it’s difficult for me to talk about each track separately.
So Tyrannic position themselves as blackened thrash/doom metal band. In general, this is the correct definition, but I would like to add to this a very strong influence of old-school death metal and heavy metal in the spirit of Mercyful Fate, which in my opinion is an undoubted advantage.
Each track is a complex composition of different tempos, riffs and mean melodies. It will be easier for me to speak the language of analogies, drawing parallels with other representatives of the heavy music genre. But do not think that Tyrannic simply copy and put together what was once done. Of course, there are only a certain about of notes, and it would be foolish to expect complete originality, but the musicians created their own atmosphere, skillfully using the techniques and moves of the classics of heavy music.
So, in the high-speed parts of the songs, we can hear the echoes of the early Slayer and Kreator. The medium tempo pieces resemble a mix of Celtic Frost and Mercyful Fate, sometimes breaking into the territory of several late Darkthrone albums. The slow parts of the compositions (sometimes very slow ones) resemble Reverend Bizarre and a bit of Black Sabbath. Guitar solos are clearly inspired by the work of Kerry King, but sometimes there is a clear Michael Denner influence.
The work of the bass player is not very audible since the bass guitar plays in unison with the guitar, which is typical of black metal, but sometimes we can hear the bass rigidity that brought to mind the likes of Necromantia. The work of the drummer is quite simple, perhaps due to the fact that the drummer is the vocalist. But this simplicity is in perfect harmony with the bands sound.
The Vocals, timbre close to growling, also very much in harmony with the selected sound. Sometimes, the vocalist has falsetto moments like King Diamond, but these are quite rare. At other times the vocalist uses clean vocals, trying to sing or shout in a recitative way. Perhaps these are the least effective elements of his performance ,as,to me, these sound akin to a drunk person singing. Also while discuss the vocals- they at times reminded me the work of the vocalist of the (also) Australian black metal band Demoniac. In the absence of any information, I can not say that it's the same person. But, given the ironic attitude towards black-metal, I had suspicions ...
The sound of the entire album is recorded in a very authentic Old-school style, with an abundance of fuzzes and low frequencies. I would like to praise the sound of drums - they managed to achieve a soft and very lively sound. I especially liked the sound of toms and bass drum.
On the whole I was rather taken by the album, as the compositions are very rich and complex, the sound is perfectly balanced. And despite my slightly biased attitude towards groups that use irony in their work, I consider this album very successful. One can only guess why Tyrannic decided to release Ethereal Sepulchre on a cult underground label like Séance Records. Perhaps, this is the band policy - to stay in the underground. Though, this is possible for the best, as this is honest non-commercial music, in which, in spite of the abundance of devilry, there is still a fair bit of soul.