Tyrann is yet another black thrash group from Norway with the guitarist from Tsjuder, bass player from 1349 and drummer from Grimfist. Now that should make for a pretty powerful combination and believe me, it does.

The name of the game is dirty black metal with loads of thrash riffs straight from the 80s German school of thought. Nothing new or path breaking but when bands get this combination right then the result is still worth checking out. Right from album opener Reaper you know you’re in for a wild ride into blackened thrash realms and the momentum never lets up through the course of this album. The music is mostly furious and manic black thrash with early Sodom as a chief reference but Tyrann are also adept at slowing things down and it’s the mid tempo blackened parts that really help this band stand out a bit. For a black metal band they also have quite a good year for thrash hooks and they keep coming at the listener.

Stand out tracks include album opener Reaper which is more Angelcorpse than any retro thrash worship, the awesome mid paced crunch of Hellridden with its references to later Immortal, Shub-Niggurath which is a pure thrash assault owing equally to Possessed and Slayer and another crunchy mid paced song, Black Moon which is very effective in building a wall of sound. The highlight though is the epic Grave Dreamer which starts off like complete Obsessed by Cruelty worship complete with sloppy dirty riffing before going off into some vicious black metal riffing before going off to reference Celtic Frost with its slowed down middle part and ending the album on a quiet note. This song really shows that Tyrann are not just some run of the mill black metal band that’s opted for the safe and clichéd black thrash attack. These guys are more than competent musicians who can rip it with the best of them.

As far as debuts go, this is a pretty good one from Tyrann. They’re not really doing anything new but whatever they are doing is done with a lot of panache and love for the old school. Overall, a promising debut and well worth checking out if you like the whole black thrash sound.

Label - Dark Essence/Karisma Records
Year of Release - 2009