EP Review: Dawn of Tyrants – Breeding Ruin (Self-Released)

Negative-thinking, tyrannical Canadian Black Death Metal trio Dawn of Tyrants debut with their EP Breeding Ruin, the first misanthropic salvo of the band’s signature iron fisted formula. Breeding Ruin spews five tracks of secular blackened death metal, incorporating a wide range of styles and themes while never drifting from their singular purpose. Comprised of stalwarts of the Toronto metal scene who have spent time in acts such as Overthrow, H5N1, Catharsis, and Priest, the band are forging their way through darker paths to a future most bleak.

Breeding Ruin was released on January 11th 2017 & can be picked up right here.

The first Dawn of Tyrants record can be rightfully called the most raw sounding record of 2017 so far. It’s black metal that sounds straight out of the nearest mud-pit which also happens to be in the deepest, darkest part of hell.

5 tracks long with a cover of the Celtic Frost song, Detroned Emperor thrown in. Breeding Ruin is an old-school black metal album in that it shuns much of the more symphonic, melodic elements that many of the modern black metal bands have adopted. This is from an era of extreme music that is still extremely underground & considered niche now.

Guttural & haunting vocals that echo through your skull, guitars that sound like chainsaws & drumming designed to punch a hole in your head. Dawn of Tyrants sound like they mean business which is why it’s such a pity that opening song; Some Above, Most Below is such a disappointing start. It’s brutally heavy but not so much that it becomes a mess of clashing instruments. The issue lies with just how uninteresting it is. It has flashes during its 5+ minute run but they never seem to go anywhere.

Thankfully What Can be Broken…Must Be Broken is a much improved song. One that manages to offer some variety in the constant metal assault. The sudden drop in vocals to allow a disgustingly good guitar riff to take over which is backed up by some incredible drumming marks these guys as more then a one-trick black metal pony.

The song Breeding Ruin ensures that this is an EP that you’ll want to return to over the next couple of months. Somehow sounding more evil & twisted then the first two songs yet being the most listenable of the bunch. As improvements go, this is certainly impressive!

The final two songs, Fallen Figure of Futility & a cover of Celtic Frost’s Dethroned Emperor end things strongly. The former being a filthy sounding short black metal assault while the latter is a well-done take on a classic black metal song.

While this EP might not get started in the right way it more then makes up for it with the rest of the songs. Very traditional black metal, there is no doubting that you’ll need to have an ear for this kind of music going into it to really get something out of it. It’s a strong showing from Dawn of Tyrants & an EP that is well worth checking out.

Overall Track Listing:

1. Some Above
2. What can be broken
3. Breeding Ruin
4. Futility
5. Dethroned Emperor (Celtic Frost Cover)

We’d like to thank Dawn of Tyrants & FullBlast PR! for providing us with a copy of the EP for this review. You can find out more about Dawn of Tyrants on their Facebook page & over on their Bandcamp page.