This is a debut album from a relatively new German speed metal band which is welcomingly depicted on the opener ‘Tower 42’. It has authentic sound and a good vocal tone and melody. Hammering through into the next track, ‘Murder at the Barricades’, the band show some slower restraint and flow into the traditional heavy metal sub-genre. Again, the music is awash with class and melody, whilst maintaining a need to bang your head and raise your fist in true heavy metal style ending with some gang vocals.
‘Madrugada’ is an instrumental that flows into ‘Ruins of the Past’. This in itself follows a similar path, the arrangement is strong and builds level by level to generate an expectation when the vocals start, thus, we have deliverance in the most metallic form. Here again, this band use vocal melodies to generate the stance and feel that compliments the consistent guitar work. Similar to the Swedish sound I’d add. Both Germany and Sweden in classic metal form were very similar of the past, this is similar here from Mechanic Tyrants. This one in particular I’d take along a journey with Century for example. But the speed/thrash riffing always augments the basic sound. Virtuoso musicianship and riffing starts ‘St. Diemen Riots’ on this album anyway, before hitting the speed metal markers with some tight metal riffing, similar to what you would get from the likes of Tailgunner (UK) and classic accented German metal (also true in my opinion on ‘Bad Seed’). As the track progresses the speed increases in the perfect mould if Iron Angel and similar. This one has a great guitar solo that is very classy, infectious and pacey.
‘Sons of Evil’ is a fist pumping heavy metal track with a nice intro to get your appetite warmed up in a similar vein of Accept. ‘Speed Metal Guerrilla’ was a lead single and this is as expected, like Seax, a touch more modern in speed metal terms, holding true the aforementioned use of vocal melody. The other pre-release lead track ‘Above the Law’ brings back some speed, I can see why this and the other tracks were used, but I would say that the album has a whole, delivers more than pure speed metal alone. As an album, the flow is nice, pleasant, whilst remaining attentive. ‘Mechanic Tyrants’ as a band name track, you expect something signature, something special. We start slow, I would say Sabbath-esq, and then the tempo goes berserk again. It’s not my favourite tune, but it has all the hallmarks displayed on the remainder of the album.
In conclusion, this is a strong album with references to classic German speed and heavy metal in general. There is a touch of something for everyone and for me, it’s a no brainer. As a final thought, the album fits perfectly on a single side of a cassette tape…!
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
Leave a Reply