Not long after their debut, metalcore/groove metal band LANINIA crafted their sophomore effort "Tyrant", releasing it upon the world last October 15^th, 2021. The Polish outfit was formed in 2018 by two friends, guitarists Daniel Ludwiczak and Janusz Duź. The music they crafted was inspired by bands such as SEPULTURA, VADER, and BIOHAZARD. Ludwiczak was the composer of the majority of their first album, recording the guitar demos in his home studio in December 2016. It wasn't until April 2017 that they were able to find a drummer in Ludwiczak's friend Joachim Jura, and in June - together with Duź - he would play guitar and bass parts with them. Mateusz Papis was assigned to vocals while Sergiusz Paszkiewicz was brought on to play bass. After the first concert, unfortunately, they had to replace Jura behind the skins with Karol Wiśniewski, and with him in the band, they were able to play the material they crafted on their debut full-length "Loneliness" they released earlier and finally moved forward with a confirmed lineup.

The band were able to secure a deal with Metal Mind Productions for "Tyrant", already a significant step up as their previous work was released independently. But like their previous album, their sound has a distinctive 90s feel with modern sounds. The new album consists of 11 new tracks all bearing - in some way - some commonality to the theme of tyranny. The band explains, "In today's difficult and uncertain times, we wanted to look at this phenomenon at a wider angle and present it from different perspectives." The album is a bit multidimensional, showing what the band can offer to both an English and Polish speaking audience. English lyrics, melodic vocals, and groovy guitar riffs are the highlights of what LANINIA offer. The album also includes several guest musicians not only showed up for the recording sessions but also had a hand in the creation of the music as well. The most prominent is a cover of SLAYER'S "Mandatory Suicide" featuring Piotr Luczyk, a founding member of the band KAT which were inspired by the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" as a focus for their sound.

One thing that I can say is that LANINIA are a band that are continuously hard to categorize. While they definitely had a sound that was more reminiscent of the nu-metal or alt-metal sound of the 90s - particularly in the production - they seemed to move a little further into more a metalcore vibe on "Tyrant" while keeping the warm, almost fuzzy guitar tone that was prominent in the 90s. This is evident in the evolution of Mateusz Popis, adding more distorted vocals and if possible, making them sound even harsher, making for a far more brutal sounding record. I think the best portrayal of their unique stylistic qualities are on "My Tyrant" which begins with a dissonant guitar hook that would be at home on a KORN record and Popis uses his cleaner voice initially before adding in the distorted vocals gradually with a cool layering of a metalcore chorus complete with double clean vocals with distorted vocals over top. Then it has a bit of a breakdown into a quiet synth section before building the heavy back up. The SLAYER cover of "Mandatory Suicide" gets props from me because somehow it sounds like a thrashy SLAYER song if it had actually been written in 90s, or in other words, perfectly adapted to their style and elevated it for a new era to discover.