It has been a few years since we have heard from this German Death Metal band. Having previously released their first mini-cd in 1999 called “Beyond The Gates of Pain” and subsequent first full album in 2004 “Art of Devolution”, they have chalked up some impressive support slots around the European scene. These have varied from ‘Unleashed’, ‘Behemoth’, ‘God Dethroned’ and ‘Desaster’ to festival appearances at ‘Summer Breeze’ and ‘Fuck the Commerce’.
Recorded and mixed by ex-‘Atrocity’ Drummer Martin Schmidt and mastered by Dan Swanö (Ex-‘Edge of Sanity’), there is plenty of death metal heritage in this package.
The title track immediately pounds away like a runaway train, not ultra fast, but a good paced track. One does think of the Swedish melodic death metal sound when hearing for the first time, it is well structured and the mix is just right. There is a slight clicking noise on the bass drums (like latter day ‘Amon Amarth’), but this fades away once the track gets going. ‘Daemon Dawn’ and ‘Source Code @ Converter’s Day’ are both mid-tempo tunes with some additional vocal effects. The melodies do work well with these voice patterns, it does sound like some of ‘Ozzy’s’ trademark snarl in places. The melodic phrasing keeps the listener enthralled and builds up in depth and structure with less chaos. This of course depends on your viewpoint of death metal; some chaotic structures are nice, sometimes they are not!
‘Born in Our Own Funeral’ does remind you of current period ‘Arch Enemy’ in places, in relation to the backing music with double bass drum constant in the majority of the track. Personally, it is a good move, but there are moments when you do want a bit more energy as displayed in the verses (which sound similar to early ‘Arch Enemy’ before Angela joined).
In general terms, the pure death metal vocal is brutal and sounds as it should. There are quite a lot of voice effects that could really do with being more infrequent, but this is just a personal opinion as it sometimes loses the intensity and becomes more melodic. But then ‘Construcdead’ pops up and is one of the out and out pounding numbers, a standout track on the CD. With gruesome death metal vocals, thundering bass lines, excellent guitar fills; the arrangement keeps the listener on edge with many a time change and ever-expanding feel of emotion and power. The same can be said for ‘Incapacity Awards’.
The USA version of the CD that I have here for review is in digipack format and also includes the aforementioned ‘Beyond the Gates of Pain’ MCD as a bonus. This presents the early incarnation of ‘Immortal Rites’ and provides even greater value for money.
Fans of ‘Arch Enemy’, ‘Hypocrisy’, ‘Amon Amarth’ and ‘Dark Tranquility’ would definitely enjoy this CD to name but a few.
On the whole ‘For Tyrants Sake’ definitely shows ‘Immortal Rites’ developing their sound into a more mature structure than that of their first release. In a market that is quite well saturated, it is hoped that with the correct promotion and enthusiasm from their fans, that they will move onto greater things. It is not as if the big names out there are doing anything different.
A thoroughly enjoyable listen and I would recommend to any melodic death metal fan.
www.immortalrites.de
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www.medusarecords.net
