I rather enjoyed 2019s Tyrannotophia, from this Dutch downtempo band, as it ended up being one of the better deathcore/ downtempo releases I have still heard. Then I found the follow-up EP, Dawn of Curruption a bit boring, and the band got surpassed by label mates Bound In Fear as the best band in the genre at that time.

Then the band quickly released another EP, Dusk of Anguish, which was much better, but I found myself thinking, ‘hang on a minute, I feel a third EP coming and I bet they combine all three into a full length’.  Well lo and behold, that’s what happened, and while I think its a bit crappy for the band and label to make you buy 2 EPs and then a third release that has those same 2 EPs on it and adds 7 new songs to ‘conclude the Tyrannotophia saga ‘, here I am having purchased all three.

So the first 12 songs here are the two EPs mentioned above (though ordered differently?), so if you have the 2 EPs, you are essentially paying for 7 new (rather short) songs here, including a bonus, older track added on the end, “Argent Debt”, which actually ends up being one of the best songs on the entire release. It’s all modern heavy as fuck downtempo/beatdown taken to the nth degree. And while I said the First EP was a bit dull (though “Oedipism ” is a monster track), the second one has some bangers like “Cryogenesis” and “Graveborn”, delivering unfettered down tuned, lumbering heaviness.

The new, last part of the Tyrannotophia story is 4 ‘Rituals’, (two of which are interludes) 2 songs, and the aforementioned bonus song. “Ritual II: Rakva” and “Ritual III: Vermilion Rivers” are solid, if short beasts (the latter even adding some keyboards a la Lorna Shore and label mates Mental Cruelty). “The Tyrant’s Covenant” (featuring Brand of Sacrifice’s Kyle Anderson) has a monster closeout and “Maledictus” is a short, repetitive but slower, hulking track, before the aforementioned, six-minute, “Argent Debt” ends the release with arguably the best, most varied, heaviest song the group has penned (which makes sense as it was originally written and released written shortly after the debut and during covid- and has 5 damn vocalists). The ending is downright nasty. I just hope this is more of what we can expect from future material rather than some of the so-s so material that fill this release.

[Visit the band's website]

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