Nine Circles

It was all the way back in 2005 when Tyranny released their debut album. Now, in 2015 they are set to release their followup, a full ten years later, entitled Aeons in Tectonic Interment (you can read our review here.) To say they took a hiatus would be putting it mildly. They took a break of Amestigon-like proportions (who we interviewed about long layoffs here.) Ten full years passed. The earth orbited the sun 3,650 times (give or take a few leap years). Our galaxy orbited other galaxies. Our universe orbited other universes. And all that time Tyranny worked. But enough self-promotion. Now, in 2015, we take a look back at their 2005 masterpiece Tides of Awakening.

Funeral Doom bands are well known for their patience. Their songs frequently cross the ten-minute mark. Their patience is not only confined to the music. They often take extended breaks between albums and shows.  Tyranny’s patience however, is strange even for their genre. In fact, the shortest song on Tides of Awakening is nearly twelve-minutes long. And the pacing is downright sluggish. Their songs slink forward “like an old man [easing] into a nice warm bath.” The duo take their time developing cadences, atmosphere and fear. For their songs are, in the end, essentially grand works of horror.

Tides of Awakening is likely the inferior album when compared with their much newer Aeons in Tectonic Interment, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t crucial and earth moving. While slower, more depressing and potentially less accessible, Tides of Awakening, is a fundamental album in the history of funeral doom. An album that resides squarely within the genre with no regard for time or frame of reference. It simply just “is.” So do yourself a favor and spend  the next one hour and seven minutes of  your life invested in the abyss of Tides of Awakening.

– Manny-O-War