Dallas, Texas-based black metal horde, Tyrannosorceress, present their debut through Tofu Carnage Records. Formed in 2010 by members of Dallas-based Cleric, Tyrannosorceress released a demo as long ago as 2011, but it has taken until now for the quintet to release an album, and I find it hard to fathom why that is the case as this is something quite special indeed. This is black metal as a full-on force of nature, no namby pamby ambient tones or keyboards for these guys, just grabbing Mayhem and Darkthrone as influences and then building the sound into some quite special. John Schiller (bass) and Zach Jobin (drums) are joined at the hip, and know when to speed it up and when to slow it down, so there are sections when the band moves far more into doom territory than one would expect from a band of this type. The twin guitars of Daniel Hearne and William Baxter riff it out, or take turns in providing melodies and counter melodies, or rely on their buddies to keep it together while they take it into other areas. Then on top of that we have the vocals of Zac Christian, whose gruff and demonic sound is perfect for the music at hand.
Only five songs, but the album is still forty-five minutes in length (the perfect vinyl playing time, and this has indeed been made available in that format). Great production has allowed these guys to really shine, and I guess the only question is when are these guys going to get picked up by a more major label? If black metal is of interest, then these are one of the most exciting new bands within the genre that I have come across. It is possible to stream the album at http://tyrannosorceress.com. Highly recommended.
