Black Metal’s worldwide appeal has touched all four corners of the world, to many I feel that the genre represents a voice. It was the genre that gave birth to the elite movement separating the ‘trve’ from the ‘false’. Long gone were the fun notions of Death Metal or Thrash Metal, only pure Heavy Metal in the vein of Maiden, Priest, Venom and Mercyful Fate could ring trve along with a few notable Thrash Metal exceptions. The voice that this represents is isolation and deviation from the mainstream, although ironically Black Metal is probably the most household Extreme Metal term nowadays due to the acts portrayed by members of the Norwegian community.
Aiming to bring us something fresh from Columbia are Daemoni. The quintet formed in 2009 and then in 2011 unleashed their debut Stillborn Redeemer through Goathorned Productions. Now we come to 2019 and the unveiling of the bands sophomore effort put out once again through Goathorned Productions. The atypically named Black Tyrant promises to be a stand out work to please the Black Metal masses but can it attain such prowess or will it merely dwindle away into the never-ending aeons of the Extreme Metal scrapheap?
One thing is for sure, there is no mistaking this record as anything other than Black Metal. Following the brief horror inspired introduction of Moriens Pulsatio we are quickly thrust into fuzz heavy guitars, blasting drums and shrieking vocals. All of which has a production value far higher than their idols and ancestors, yet it is delivered with an almost copycat style. With the exception of the mildly hook laced Plagues Embraced the first portion of this album is a drab and lacklustre performance of stereotypical Black Metal by numbers that really shows no invention or soul. Going back to the production due to its clean nature it comes across as Dimmu Borgir without any of the frills or theatrics.
The title track begins with a similar ambient styled introduction to that of the albums opening and almost comes across as a sort of resetting of the album. However whilst it is a track that shows off more musically credibility in its progression and evolution it is none the less very standard Black Metal fare. Thereafter we are subject to further tiresome displays of drab uninspiring Black Metal that is pretty much as generic as it gets. I can understand the bands ethos and I feel like the manner in which they play is at least admirable in the fact that it is very true to the connotations of what one would expect from such a release. However it relies too heavily on weakened clichés becoming a very dull record.
I do often feel a bit mean when I’m ranting about albums I haven’t particularly enjoyed but then that is part and parcel of reviewing I guess. Equally I always think about my own musical ability which is none, these artists whilst not being attuned to my taste can at least play an instrument and that’s more than me, or most can do. Which brings me nicely to my closing statement of this review, Black Tryant is Black Metal, undeniably. Yet so undeniably that it is afraid to be or do anything different as if it is terrified of a little experimentation, whilst this is a sound we all know and love we’ve all heard it a thousand times before.
(4/10 George Caley)
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