Thyrane - Travesty of Heavenly Essence
Spikefarm Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
The album is a massive improvement for me over Hypnotic which was the band's ingenious attempt at a techno album gone wrong. Here we have them returning to black metal antics of days yonder recalling maybe Immortal's later works, I'd say. There is plenty of solid keyboard usage and some thrashy riffs, making for a farily exciting listen. An epic vibe pervades the album, giving a sort of medieval vibe to go along with the thrashy riffs. An improvement it may be, but the album isn't really elevated much above average status in my mind.
What instead we have is almost an album that is just fun to headbang to upon repeated listens and certainly a lot more listenable than the experimentalism displayed on their last album. It displays a really pristine production job and an ability to stick out to the listener. It's somewhat symphonic as well, adding that kind of a quality to the album. Track 4, "Nox Diaboli", is a standout with its jiving rhythms and frantic pacing, but the entire album is of a fairly consistent nature. I would maybe like the band to throw in a bit more complexity to their sounds, which are relatively so, but not enough as to make one's head spin.
Thyrane have displayed the ability to be drastically different on all of their albums and it's made for a fairly varied discography. The band work best in the typical black metal mode, but they still could add some more dynamics to their sound to become more interesting. All in all, a fairly solid work, but certainly far from the best that black metal has to offer.
6.5/10
Official Spinfarm Records Website
Official Thyrane Website
Spikefarm Records - 2006
By Adam McAuley
The album is a massive improvement for me over Hypnotic which was the band's ingenious attempt at a techno album gone wrong. Here we have them returning to black metal antics of days yonder recalling maybe Immortal's later works, I'd say. There is plenty of solid keyboard usage and some thrashy riffs, making for a farily exciting listen. An epic vibe pervades the album, giving a sort of medieval vibe to go along with the thrashy riffs. An improvement it may be, but the album isn't really elevated much above average status in my mind.
What instead we have is almost an album that is just fun to headbang to upon repeated listens and certainly a lot more listenable than the experimentalism displayed on their last album. It displays a really pristine production job and an ability to stick out to the listener. It's somewhat symphonic as well, adding that kind of a quality to the album. Track 4, "Nox Diaboli", is a standout with its jiving rhythms and frantic pacing, but the entire album is of a fairly consistent nature. I would maybe like the band to throw in a bit more complexity to their sounds, which are relatively so, but not enough as to make one's head spin.
Thyrane have displayed the ability to be drastically different on all of their albums and it's made for a fairly varied discography. The band work best in the typical black metal mode, but they still could add some more dynamics to their sound to become more interesting. All in all, a fairly solid work, but certainly far from the best that black metal has to offer.
6.5/10
Official Spinfarm Records Website
Official Thyrane Website
