Artist: Tyrannosatan
Country: Sweden
Label: Jawbreaker Records
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2025
Admittedly, I too initially ignored this band because of the somewhat cheesy band name. Tyrannosatan is not the most attractive name, and the album did not come with the most convincing cover either… But, as I often say myself: never judge a book by its cover. I finally got over it with this new EP, ‘Babylons Skräck’ which was released on cassette tape also via the Swedish Jawbreaker Records. Tyrannosatan may not be the latest sensation in Black/Heavy Metal, but truth be told: it is not as bad as I originally thought.
These Swedes have musicians who are also being active in bands such as Armory and Razorvoid and that is actually what shines through in Tyrannosatan. Bands like Nifelheim Deströyer 666 or Aura Noir are essentially Black Metal bands incorporating some Heavy Metal into their music, some more or in a slightly different fashion than others, but still. Tyrannosatan is basically traveling the same path but in the exact opposite direction. These are clearly Heavy Metal musicians who decided to add some Black Metal to their usual rather ugly style of Heavy Metal. While I don’t know exactly where these musicians started, the classic chicken and egg situation, it’s pretty remarkable to hear Tyrannosatan sound pretty much exactly like Armory and Razorvoid with a dose of Bathory. That means it is a rather rough sort of Heavy Metal that bears similarities with somewhat rough and Thrashy German Heavy Metal from the mid- to late 80’s, think of bands like Rage, Running Wild, Mekong Delta, Living Death, Trance and Grave Digger. Not quite original and not the most well-rounded execution of mixing these two genres, but ‘Babylons Skräck’ is a fun listen, but honestly hardly more than that.
