TYRANT is a 4-Piece Traditional Heavy Metal band from Pasadena, California. The band was reactivated back in 2009 with only two original members, Greg May and Rocky Rockwell. This is actually their first album since coming back and also the first since 1996's ''King of Kings''. I heard about them back in the late nineties/early 2000's as they were doing a lot of covers for Dwell Records compilation including one about JUDAS PRIEST. I was really impressed by their ''Tyrant'' cover back in the day and it's never easy covering the ultimate masters nonetheless.

They have in their ranks probably one of the most underrated Metal vocalists of the last twenty-five years, the incomparable Robert Lowe. For people who don't know, he has fronted the SOLITUDE AETURNUS as well as CANDLEMASS. In the Epic Doom Metal genre, he is considered as of the very best vocalists out there. He joined the ranks of TYRANT back in 2017.

I honestly thought it would be a more fast paced album but it's along the lines of traditional Doom Metal. I was expecting more to be perfectly honest yet it's always fun to get surprised when you first listen to an album. I do feel Robert Lowe's voice has lost a lot of its vigor and energy, especially if you compare it to his last two albums with CANDLEMASS. Back then they were clear, powerful and deep and on this opus, I felt he mailed it in. Halfway through the album I was pretty much bored to be perfectly honest.

For all intents and purposes, you don't have much fresh material to sink your teeth in. What made CANDLEMASS truly great was drawing from the pioneers and turning it to something rather consistent. You had progressive variations and unconventional tactics, yet that mysticism and aura about the songs themselves. In TYRANT, it felt drawn out and the songs were way too long. They tried to replicate the tried and true Early Doom Metal yet they failed. The energy is not there and Robert Lowe just doesn't seem interested. His vocals lack that character he was know for and as for the rest of the band, they are capable musicians. I felt uninspired when listening to this album and it's stuff I have heard countless times and it's just not memorable. You listen to the album once and you forget about, this was a big disappointment and after 24 years, they could have done far better honestly.