A Tyrants Lament – Offerings Of The Inhumane Album Review

It took five years from their first single to their debut album. In my opinion, it was 100% worth the wait. This is a mix of old school death metal with elements of modern death, along with a few other genres woven in. Production on the album is clean, but not in that sterile, tech death metal way. It’s not so polished that everything sounds like it was tracked by robots. Every instrument is just allowed to breathe.

Vocals are a perfectly executed mix of harsh and demonic stylings from Jordan Elgersman. On top of that, we get a who’s who of Canadian metal vocalists, with four tracks featuring guest spots from Brett Macintosh (Æpoch), Callum Clark (Catastrophic Hemorrhage, Ending Tyranny), Nathan Ferreira (Hell Is Other People), and Brent Moerschfelder (Goreworm).

Other guest spots on the album include Nicholas Luck of Æpoch and Hell Is Other People, providing a soaring, melodic guitar solo on the third track, To Poison The Mind.

While an incredible debut release that death metal fans will enjoy from start to finish, it’s clear that the band is still experimenting. There are sections of melodic death, grindcore, and other genre influences. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I find albums like this keep me interested from start to finish, since it’s not the same thing repeated on all eight tracks. Some listeners might find it a little off putting. Without talking to the band, it’s hard to say if this was intentional or just the band working to find their sound.

Overall, I enjoyed every track on the album. Standouts for me are Purveyors Of Chaos, Blood At The End Of The Bottle, and Conflict Of Ignorance. The machine gun style riffing on “Purveyors,” along with the perfectly executed tempo changes, got stuck in my head and replayed for days. “Blood” stood out thanks to the mix of vocal stylings, which added a level of eerie appeal. Conflict’s drumming is next level skin beating mastery, a perfectly executed barrage of tempo changes that only a truly skilled drummer could pull off.

While it took me nearly a full year to review this one, I’m happy to have found it and will be coming back to it over and over again until A Tyrants Lament return with their sophomore album, which I’m sure will be another one to add to my list of top Canadian metal releases. If you enjoy genre bending metal with roots firmly planted in old school death metal vibes, then this is a must listen.