Tyrant Eyes - The Darkest Hour
2003 - Scarlet Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Scarlet Records website.
One of the major curses of being an album reviewer is having to try to find an entertaining way of essentially saying the same things over and over again - and there is nothing a reviewer fears worse than having an album to review which is neither outstandingly good or toe-curlingly bad. There really is no interesting way to say 'this band is average'. So, perhaps it is Sod's Law that ensures that so many albums so bog-standard that they should be made of porcelain and have a seat (more of an English joke there, folks) should come our way.
Tyrant Eyes, then. Melodic power metal with occasional prog and thrash touches, generally gruff vocals with a heavily Churman accent (although infrequent higher-register vocals do occur), a suitably punchy production, utterly pointless keyboards that just seem to sustain the same high synth notes for background colouring rather than as an essential part of the tune, and typically flashy guitar histrionics. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then great - but trust me, from that description you now know everything there is to know about the band. They're generic, predictable and totally without any spark of individuality. It's workmanlike, formulaic power metal all the way.
'Delight In Dying' takes a more mid-paced approach than most power metal, admittedly, and 'Night Of The Defender' does have more of a thrash feel to it - but other than those little highlights, everything else is... well... average.
5/10
2003 - Scarlet Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Scarlet Records website.
One of the major curses of being an album reviewer is having to try to find an entertaining way of essentially saying the same things over and over again - and there is nothing a reviewer fears worse than having an album to review which is neither outstandingly good or toe-curlingly bad. There really is no interesting way to say 'this band is average'. So, perhaps it is Sod's Law that ensures that so many albums so bog-standard that they should be made of porcelain and have a seat (more of an English joke there, folks) should come our way.
Tyrant Eyes, then. Melodic power metal with occasional prog and thrash touches, generally gruff vocals with a heavily Churman accent (although infrequent higher-register vocals do occur), a suitably punchy production, utterly pointless keyboards that just seem to sustain the same high synth notes for background colouring rather than as an essential part of the tune, and typically flashy guitar histrionics. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then great - but trust me, from that description you now know everything there is to know about the band. They're generic, predictable and totally without any spark of individuality. It's workmanlike, formulaic power metal all the way.
'Delight In Dying' takes a more mid-paced approach than most power metal, admittedly, and 'Night Of The Defender' does have more of a thrash feel to it - but other than those little highlights, everything else is... well... average.
5/10
