THYRANE - Travesty of heavenly essence

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Candlelight Records
Playing time: 44:15
Band homepage: Thyrane

Tracklist:

    Parasites Of Submission
    Decay Of Christian Empire
    Travesty Of Heavenly Essence >mp3
    Nox Diaboli >mp3
    Legacy Of Saints In Diguise
    Deteriorated
    Truth Revealed
    Tolerance
    Divinity Under Will >mp3
    Prisoner Of Pain
    Lost In Reflection

    Thyrane - Travesty Of Heavenly Essence

After their 2004 excursion into the realm of Industrial Black Metal under the title of “Hypnotic” I had been looking forward to what the Finns of THYRANE had to offer on their new long player “Travesty Of Heavenly Essence“. The title rather hints at a kinship to the DIMMU BORGIRs and OLD MAN’S CHILDs of the world than a continuation of the industrialised sounds and as soon as you put the CD in and the first sounds of “Parasites Of Submission” sweep over you, it becomes clear that THYRANE have embraced their past once more, having left the experiments behind.
“Travesty Of Heavenly Essence“ is their fourth album and even though they have not exactly gorged themselves with originality, the band around fronter Blastmor (who has abdicated the drums and now is standing at the mic with a six string around his neck) shows that they stand at the spearpoint of Finnish Melodic Black Metal. The already mentioned opener stands for almost everything that the band had stood for on their early albums, powerful, melodic Black Metal with keyboards and good double-bass power, with good melodies and clear structures, which can compete with the best.
But they don’t make the mistake to just blast through their songs, but they put an emphasis on variety, mixing furious breakers with mid-tempo stompers and also within the songs incorporated well timed breaks, loosening them up and keeping up the dynamics, which not too many bands do these days. Altogether they often operate in higher tempos, yet thankfully do not become foreseeable. So “Parasites Of Submission“ is followed by a furious whirlwind in form of “Decay Of Christian Empire“ and on “Nox Diaboli“ they create an epic atmosphere with double-bass and majestic keyboards, which puts the band pretty close to Viking Metal, which sounds great, while “Truth Revealed“ picks up these great melodies and combines it with furious rhythms (double-bass and blastbeats alike).
Sure, THYRANE won’t re-define the Melodic Black Metal, but “Travesty Of Heavenly Essence“ has turned out to be a very entertaining, dynamic and well produced album, which should appeal to roundabout all fans of this style and so far most probably is the highlight of the genre. (Online April 15, 2006)