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TYRANNIC
Tyrannic Desolation

Iron Bonehead Productions (2024)
Rating: 7/10

It’s funny to see black metal musicians still posing in front of a grave or tomb like it was 1994. Australia’s Tyrannic is happy to continue primitive themes by way of circling around the ancient eaves of Celtic Frost and latter day Darkthrone, the result being a morbid monster mash of peculiar operatic vocals, blackened doom and the more expected rawness.

It’s interesting how the band meanders through the tracks they’ve crafted. A genuine eeriness lingers throughout, but particularly on ‘Morbid Sanctum’ which sticks to the creaky doom metal notion alongside the beefier and slightly unorthodox ‘Dance On Graves Chained To The Labyrinth’.

For me it’s the guitar work which sets this album aside somewhat, mainly due to the organic feel and those melancholic tones. One song which epitomizes the Tyrannic sound is the brooding ‘Prophetic Eyes Of Glass’; a track that oozes some seriously doomy moments whereby the guitars literally ache with menace. Mix such nuances with the ravishing grimness of Darkthrone and you get quite a pitch black churning.

I love the way the vocals sneer on the title track and also how the guitars arrogantly lumber and squirm through the darkness. ‘Impaled Before Your Mirror Of Fate’ starts with a speedy punkiness before the Celtic Frost summoning comes back again; black greasy riffs matched only by the midnight traipse of ‘Stillbirth In Still Life’.

I’m certainly glad I slipped into the Tyrannic coffin. This is a spooktacular gem of a record for anyone who likes the thick, cloying nature of the first and second waves of black metal alongside vintage doom.

Neil Arnold

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