The Metal Crypt on Facebook  The Metal Crypt's YouTube Channel
Review: Woe of Tyrants - Kingdom of Might
Woe of Tyrants
www.myspace.com/wot
Kingdom of Might

Label: Metal Blade Records
Year released: 2009
Duration: 41:39
Tracks: 11
Genre: Thrash Metal

Rating:
4.25/5


Review online: December 30, 2008
Reviewed by: Eternal Sorrow
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 3.54/5 (70.77%) (13 Votes)
Review

Holy Shit!! This is album is a freight train of riffs, a cement truck of concrete shredding that just rolls forward at break neck speed crushing you, most of the time.  The time not spent pummeling you these guys treat you to some uninspired generic and most of all weak wanna be Death Metal.  Metal Blade are calling these guys Death/Thrash as does there profile on M-A, but after several listens I would have to lump them more in the area of Modern Melodic Thrash.  Think of a band like Sanctity, with their aggressive style yet bouncy melodic riffing that catches your attention yet rips your face off at the same time.  Sanctity though do what their good at and stick to the melodic Thrash, which is what Woe of Tyrants should have done cause once they stray away from the melo-thrash they loose what makes them attractive.

OK on the meat and bones of this album, the guitars; leads that's what this album is killer mother fucking leads and they abound in every song and are usually presented at mach speed.  When the guitars are not ripping leads we have a mixed bag, on the one hand we have well constructed Thrash-styled sections that tie the leads together well and then we have the problem; watered down generic and bland Death Metal.  When these guys play at their best though they will melt your face. 

As for the rest of the band, bass isn't to audible and the drummer while efficient is a touch boring adding no fills or any complex rhythms at all; on a side note he can blast beat fast as fuck but that doesn't make a good drummer.  The vocals are a mixed bag, being a deep death-style growl along side a more thrashy styled and slightly coreish rasp.  The former is well done and you can actually make out a lot of the words if you listen closely and this style is thankfully the more used one, the other style while not bad and fitting to the music reminds me of metalcore vocals.

OK lets get to the bad, the so called Death Metal these guys incorporate into their Thrash.  Listen to the song "Kingdom of Might (The Eclipse)" and you will be treated to four and a half minutes of bland boring watered down generic Death Metal.  While it isn't technically bad, it stands out against the other songs as the rest of the album is more focused on the Thrash.  I think the main problem though is the guitars, while they work for the ripping and shredding and soloing they come off as contrived and weak during the Death Metal sections, they just don't have that crushing power that Death Metal is supposed to have.  Being accompanied by bland straight blast masterbeating on the drums doesn't help either and these Death Metal sections just lead to bores and snores.  Thankfully they're not ever present and only one song completely features them.

In the end if you're looking for some face ripping metal, and you don't mind the odd bit of not crappy but unoriginal and uninspired Death Metal then these guys will kick your head in.  Coming out early January this album is a great way to start the year, and a good effort from a young band, while not perfect if they stick to what they do well they could become something big in the modern Thrash realm.  I would recommend this to all as while not perfect it is fun, and even after listening to this about 20 times before reviewing it I never got bored, and actually wanna listen to it 20 times more.

P.S. The song "Sons of Thunder" is garbage and should have no place on this album, with its slow pace and its almost hardcore vibe.  I would have given this album a 4.75 if not for this damn song.

More about Woe of Tyrants...
Review: Kingdom of Might (reviewed by Jason Cominetto)
Review: Threnody (reviewed by Adam Kohrman)
Click below for more reviews
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines 



The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright  © 1999-2024, Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt.  All Rights Reserved.