HOLLENTHON
Tyrants And Wraiths
(Napalm Records)
20:27min

I still remember the great era of the Austrian extreme Metal scene; the time when Napalm Records was completely bound to the different shades of ‘extreme’ Metal with a strong focus on bands from their neighbourhood. But these times are unfortunately long gone – a fact which is applicable for the Austrian scene and Napalm Records – and only a handful of bands are still active. HOLLENTHON are one of the few survivors and the band is combining the different shades of the old Austrian scene – on one hand the bombast tendencies which (still) can be found in bands like SUMMONING or PAZUZU on the other hand the pure Metal roots of bands like PUNGENT STENCH. The presented four songs on this single are without a doubt the best HOLLENTHON material so far, mainly due to the fact that the band is in the position to perfectly combine their two sides. On their former releases the gap between the Metal parts and the classic / bombast / movie soundtrack fragments had been far more drastic but this time there are fully integrated into the compositions. Especially the final track ‘Of Hollow Men’ with a very interesting keyboard line shows the potential of this band and the additional two live videos (which shows a tough band and a bored audience) makes “Tyrants And Wraiths” a more than attractive package. www.hollenthon.com, www.napalmrecords.com

Matthias Auch

Matthias Auch

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