Tyrant – Hereafter

Tyrant

‘Hereafter’

Shadow Kingdom Records

Heavy Metal

FFO: Ruthless, Cloven Hoof, Cirith Ungol, Enforcer, Brocas Helm, Omen

Many years have come and gone, the past strewn with world changing events since Tyrant last released an album in 1996. One good thing for 2020 has Tyrant returning ride the crest of the wave with the rise of trad metal to deliver their fourth album ‘Hereafter’.

                Time has not tarnished Tyrant and their metal is as sharp and gleaming as it ever was as the Californians deliver a driving album of classic sounding metal that is timeless. Although the band now only features Greg May and Rocky Rockwell from the past, the new blood injected into the band from Ronnie Wallace and Robert Lowe have certainly reinvigorated the guys in the studio as ‘Hereafter’ pounds the anvil hard with tracks such as ‘Dancing on Graves’, ‘Beacon the Light’ and ‘Fire Burns’ being powerful reminders that Tyrant are still adept at ruling the airwaves. However, there are few niggles here, the production is a quite murky and could do with being just a tad sharper, this leaves certain points of the album such as title track feeling a little flaccid and less epic than expected. Furthermore, there is a familiarity to ‘Pieces of Mine’ which harks back to Judas Priest’s ‘The Hellion’ before delving into something reminiscent of Sabbath’s ‘Children of the Grave’.

                Yet, what Tyrant have delivered is another great album, this is a band that know how to keep it real with a streetwise swagger of integrity and those looking to find heavy metal at its most primal will unearth it here as Tyrant return to remind the trad metal scene just how it is done.

Adam McCann