Review of Thyrane - Hypnotic

Right from the cover art of this (done by Niklas Sundin, of Dark Tranquillity fame), I knew that this Finnish Black Metal band, formed under the name Thornmoon, had changed their sound... AGAIN. This band, going from a more classical grim/necro BM approach, to a tastefully done melodic/symphonic black metal on 2000's "The Art of Rebellion", to what we have now on 2003's new album "Hypnotic": Industrial Black Metal. Oh fuck they went Satyricon on us. Goddamnit there went another one that did it. Right off the bat: I thought that "The Art of Rebellion" fucking killed, with so much Melodic/Symphonic BM completely sucking fagothic ass, this album... um, didn't? That's right, a good Melodic Black Metal album, right up there with (but not sounding like) Aspera Heims Symfonia or perhaps Naglfar... if you disliked that album: A.) Your Ildjarn collection is bigger than your brain. B.) You think Sonata Arctica is the best band ever, and Metal should not be heavier than on Silence. C.) Your vocabulary consists mainly of grunts and growls, and you manage to have 10 copies of any given Cinerary or Disgorge album. D.) You should probably just shut the fuck up. So when I heard this, basically I was more than a little... surprised, and well (sorry Thyrane) disappointed. Now, I am all for a band seeking new directions, developing their sound and stuff... but this Industrial Black Metal genre has been around for like only a few years, and it already has been done to death, seriously. Every time I hear one of these bands, I can't get the rather odd vision of some crack-induced video of a mechanical troll running about in the forest in stop-frame animation... weird huh?. I have already heard the album related to stuff like The Kovenant, Satyricon, Dodheimsgard (oh, I'm sorry: "DHG") & ...and Oceans newer material, but unlike (especially The Kovenant) I feel that Thyrane holds enough roots in their former sound not to... how can I say this in a way that won't offend fans... oh fuck it, like I give a damn. Unlike The Kovenant's new sound, Thyrane don't suck ass, they don't completely come off like a bunch of wastes of life playing half assed shit after they released some good assed stuff (see: Nexus Polaris by COVENANT). While yes, the synth does have more of a place now, and there is a serious lack of traditional blast beats and tremolo picking madness, and this album does have that "cold & sterile" feeling that infects all of this genre, this is frankly just BETTER than most of the rest of it all. The production lets all the instruments breathe without coming out too airy and "un-heavy", very well done, my congratulations to the guys at SundiCoop & Finnvox studio's. Vocalist/Guitarist/Drummer Blastmor has one of the better rasped vocal styles I have ever heard, he isn't Garm on Aspera Heims Symfonia, but it certainly is a relief from all the assholes ripping of Marduk. There are still guitar melodies to be found on this (thankfully), just enough to stop the album from sounding the same from track to track. Blastmore & Avathar (guitars) both churn out some fairly good melodic sections as well as complimenting the synth with some nice, cold, and machine-like riffing. Daemon (that must be the 30th guy in a signed Black metal band calling himself that...) the bands bassist also plays along perfectly with this music. Hannamari, the bands (female by the way) synth player does her job well, very atmospheric work without turning into a 250 bpm industrial rave-fest. Good, I want to know that I am listening to Metal, not The Crystal Method. Notably: track five "Armaya" starts with a very odd/mystical middle-eastern synth lead. Well, I must say- that IS different, and I can't say uninteresting! I'll not say this album is anything to jump up and down and sing your praises to, but it is very well done for this genre of Black Metal- that much is for certain. The album gets a tad repetitive in spots, but for those that like say, the bands listed before, Thorns, Satyricon & the like: this album owns compared to most of that stuff.
All that said, good job Thyrane: you have proved you own Industrial Black Metal, now- no offence, but get off the bandwagon of bands doing this, and go back to kicking ass & taking names instead of making "KV7T TEKNO". If this stuff is the future (read: what our kids will be listening to) of Extreme Metal, I can't say I am too excited for the future.

Release Details

Thyrane

Hypnotic

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