Monday 8 January 2018

Bible Black Tyrant - Regret Beyond Death (Album Review)


Release date: February 16th 2018. Label: Argonauta Records. Format: CD/DD

Regret Beyond Death – Tracklisting

Instead of...
The Irony
New Verse Inferno
Regret Beyond Death
Wilderness of Steel and Stone
The Standard
A Terror to the Adversary

Members

Aaron D.C. Edge: Guitar / Bass / Vocals
Tyler Smith: Percussion
David S. Fylstra: Additional Guitar / Vocals / Soundscapes

Review

Bible Black Tyrant is the new group featuring members from Eagle Twin and Lumbar. Two bands who are well known for creating heavy doom/sludge riffs of their own. Though with this band, the mood is more psychedelic and progressive with a few flashes of Stoner Metal grooves being played to maximum effect. Their debut album Regret Beyond Death is a sludgy monolithic blast of Psychedelic Doom Metal and Progressive Metal sounds.

Opening track – Instead Of... - opens with a distant ambient/post-rock style of vocals before a simple sludgy doom riff appears before the intense vocals make their appearance known. The vocals are firmly within the Doom/Hardcore/Sludge Metal realm but you can still understand what they are singing about. This is always a good sign. The music is heavy and progressive whilst having a cool sounding post-rock/post-metal influence. When the band play a more psychedelic blend of music, the album suddenly becomes more hopeful with the gloomy atmospherics keeping the whole flow of the album quite melodic at times.

Second track - The Irony - is eight minutes of intense sounding progressive grooves with the band adding a cool build-up of sonic experimentation. The music does take influence from Neurosis at times but the song soon settles down into its own rhythm and that's perhaps down to the complex Stoner Metal parts that appear within the song. The vocals yet again are very exciting and quite precise in parts. The music soon moves into post-sludge/post-metallic territory. The lyrics are perhaps more depressing than they should be but this perhaps reflects the overall mood of the album and I admire the band's drive and vision for the overall theme of the album.

The following two tracks New Verse Inferno and Regret Beyond Death sees the band continue with their heavy progressive psychedelic dark sound. Both of these songs move between Doom and Sludge Metal, as the whole flow of the album continues with violent authority. The instrumental work is the standout part of the entire album. As Bible Black Tyrant are relentless in playing their blend of high voltage Doom/Sludge Metal.

The final three songs on the album Wilderness Of Steel And Stone, The Standard and A Terror To The Adversary offer the heaviest moments on the album with a more drone based atmosphere starting to appear on certain parts. Bible Black Tyrant still retain their brutal Doom/Sludge Metal identity but it's good to see that there is more to this band than the genre's standard sound.

The production of the album is superbly realised. As the whole sound of the album contains a threatening presence that's very hard to ignore and resist. You have to give the band credit from sounding very different to their more famous bands. I'm not calling Bible Black Tyrant a supergroup as I kinda hate that term. This is a band that stands on their own merits and convictions by creating a wonderful sounding and complex album. Bible Black Tyrant is a band you need to listen to.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency for the promo. Regret Beyond Death will be available to buy on CD/DD via Argonauta Records from February 16th 2018.

Links: