Reclaim the Flame

Bathory. Hellhammer. Celtic fucking Frost. They’re all back, yet in another form, an equally awesome form. A form so old school that Mayhem may as well release fucking “Deathcrush” again. Ever sat down, blasted Hellhammer at maximum volume and asked yourself, “What don’t people make this kind of stuff anymore?” Well guess what, SOMEBODY DOES. That somebody is Tyrant, and they're just as fucking awesome as the originals!

You see dear reader, spring has come to Australia and today has been the warmest day for months. Summer is coming around and with it a change in what I’m listening to. The old school is back, I expect a surge of Sodom, Celtic Frost and more Destruction than is necessarily safe to sate my musical lust in the most awesome fucking way possible. Tyrant falls into this category, despite this album’s 2007 release date. In fact, I’m going to continue to use the phrase “fucking awesome” in every single paragraph of this review, because it’s the only words I can find that expresses my feelings when I listen to this album. It’s the kind of album that you put on, then realise how incredibly fucking awesome it is before turning it up REALLY FUCKING LOUD and headbanging until it finishes…

AND THEN YOU PUT IT ON AGAIN.

I think the band’s (fucking awesome) lyrics explain the music better than what this review can, take the first track, “The Rebirth… (Reclaim the Flame).”

“Where the fuck has that old feeling gone?
When black was the color we chose
Where the fuck have all the wartimes gone?
When hate was the only word.
The only word we knew
This to the rebirth, reclaim the flame
It's time to raise the dead
Step right up and get some
Follow me to the unholy throne
BLACK METAL
Tyrant calls, the past has returned
Heading north going home
Heading north going home”

Yes, BLACK. FUCKING. METAL. And not black metal as in tremolo riffs and blast beats, no, this is black metal the way it was back in the ‘80s. It’s heavy as fuck, it thrashes harder than thrash and it will make you raise the horns until your arm hurts like your head did when jumped off the roof of your house or out of a tree when you were little. Let’s be honest here, this album basically sucks the dick of “Morbid Tales” and “Satanic Rites” more than our Kraut friends Warhammer do. Tyrant now how to play this type of music how it should be, and it sounds fucking awesome.

“Turn the cross upside down
Walk with fire, steal the crown
Back to basics, back to our roots
Nothing more, nothing less
Moving forward up the rebel road
Raw, simple and ugly
are our musical codes.
From where it came, we all knew
Out of northern darkness it grew
The Nordic sound will grind
And make the rest fall behind
Raise the cups, Tyrant is here
Drink to that
Break your neck, blow out your ear.”

The sound on this album is absolutely magnificent, and not magnificent in the crystal clear sound way. This is magnificent because it’s raw as hell. It’s essentially a live studio recording without the crowd, though perhaps a “Live Undead” crowd wouldn’t be too bad for these guys! The production clips like crazy and the guitar is often so loud that it becomes static, in which situation the extremely loud bass, in true Hellhammer style, keeps the crushing rhythm up. As I’m listening to this there’s static everywhere and I love it. The energy in this record is absolutely immense and I wouldn’t at all be surprised if they were drunk when this recorded. There’s mistakes in the playing, the vocalist says “simply” instead of “simple” in the chorus of “Tyrant” and you can hear the guy cough into the mix before songs start, yet I don’t care, because it’s FUCKING AWESOME.

If you at all consider yourself a fan of metal and dislike this album, you’re a poser; it’s as simple as that. There’s no way around, this is fucking awesome and it’s your duty as a metalhead to bow down to it and worship it for eternity while at the same time destroying everything else you own besides all the bands previously mentioned in this review’s material. Sure, all the songs essentially sound the same, the production is shit and the solos are barely audible (and poorly played at that), but I don’t care. Nothing can describe how brilliant this is. It’s like these Swedes have realised that there’s poor people like me who weren’t around to experience the first wave themselves, and they’ve decided to capture everything good about it on one CD. It’s perfect for the heat and it demands utmost respect. I don’t care if you shelve this for six months every year, because you’ll be playing at least one song every day for the remainder of the year. On a side note, I do realise that this review is horrifically crude, but it’s apt in this situation. This is a crude record, it’s an ugly and simple record, and it’s absolutely fucking perfect.

BLACK! METAL! TYRANT CALLS THE PAST HAS RETUUUUUURNED!