WOE OF TYRANTS

I was expecting a tired metalcore album and ended up with a modern death and thrash metal monster on "Behold the Lion" from Chillicothe, Ohio's WOE OF TYRANTS. Call it deathcore if you must, but the boys have got far more in common with bands like BENEATH THE MASSACRE than your typical metalcore act. The mold has not been broken, but the members of WOE OF TYRANTS sure do know how to write a dangerous and varied batch of tunes that give new mean to "raging inferno."

"Behold the Lion" would stand on its own with the more conventional moments of savage fare like "Hail the Count", a tune with some absolutely lethal licks, burning solos, and a mix of gruff, mid-range vocals and death growls. But it is when the band moves into a brief, sort of southern metal groove on the track that one realizes the act has more than a few tricks up its collective sleeve. It is in fact the band's knack for incorporating effective changes into is unmerciful brutality that really helps to set WOE OF TYRANTS apart, at least to some extent, from the pack. Another example of the talent for the change-up is on the thrashy death of "Fable Thy Destination" when the guys turn on a dime into another southern-tinged riff with lots of soul and a screaming guitar solo. It makes me stop whatever I'm doing at the moment every time and pay strict attention. But even on the more traditional death/thrash material, the act plays with a ferocity and gusto matched by few. Listen to the title track with its double-bass stomp, crunching guitars, mixed tempos, and swirling licks; you name it, it smokes!

"Behold the Lion" is a heavy, heavy album with loads of the kind of material that will make death metal fans foam at the mouth. It would be a shame if the disc does unnoticed in the crowded heavy music scene because WOE OF TYRANTS are really onto something here. Watch out for the next release; it just may crush all in its path.