• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

This is the debut from one-man band Tyfon's Doom, playing a kind of epic/traditional Heavy Metal not a million miles removed from bands like Hyborian Steel, walking that edge of sounding a bit like Omen while being a good bit more melodic and nuanced than that would imply. I have to say Tommy Varsala's riffs are really fucking good, as songs like "Sea of Life" and "Howling Danger" rock out with classic-sounding riffage that will give your air guitar hand a workout. The drum work is also much better than I would have expected, and overall the recording sounds tight and well played.

If there's a drawback here it is that Varsala's vocals are really pretty bad. He's going for a rough-but-tuneful sound that is too heavy on the rough. In a lot of places, he reminds me of Quorthon's early efforts at melodic vocals, where he is hitting the notes, but not well, and you mostly hear him straining. The vocals are mixed low, so they take a backseat to the guitars, but this album could be really first-rate if he got a better singer. The music here is good enough to warrant it. Overall this is a really promising debut.