Damnation Army is a one-man project by Thomas Nyholm instigated in 2002 or 2003. 'Tyrant' is the follow-up album to the debut, 'God Is Myth', of 2004.

'Tyrant' is a bit of a mixed bag, with some tracks in the same style as Darkthrone or Satyricon. Other tracks are more like Hypocrisy or Arch Enemy. More specifically, Damnation Army’s music is fairly simplistic - there are no widdly-widdly guitar solos, just meaty riffs and a few pretty melodies.

Nyholm has played drums on this album rather than using programmed drums and not having heard Damnation Army’s previous work I cannot compare but my personal preference is for live instrumentation where possible. Nyholm himself seems to prefer it from reading the biography on his website. Budgeting difficulties unfortunately prevented this in Damnation Army’s previous work, and 'Tyrant' is also apparently a cleaner, less raw version of their music.

Cleaner than Darkthrone’s style, 'Tyrant' probably bears closer comparison to Satyricon, particularly in the catchy second track, 'Soldier Of The Damned'. Nyholm had no specific genre in mind when he wrote 'Tyrant', and this is evident from the stylistic changes from track to track.

'Tyrant' is not particularly original but I like it anyway - it’s catchy but not as catchy as some of Satyricon’s work. I am not so keen on 'K.I.N.G.' from 'Now, Diabolical', for example - it sounds almost industrial to me. And it has some of the anthemic quality of Arch Enemy’s 'Anthems Of Rebellion' which is an album I like. I can imagine a Damnation Army marching into battle listening to this album - check out, for example, the first track 'To Deaths Arms'. 'Dalia' reminds me of Hypocrisy’s 'The Arrival'.

Damnation Army’s 'Tyrant' is great listening, and fans of Darkthrone, Satyricon, later Hypocrisy or Arch Enemy should definitely check them out.

****

Review by Amanda Hyne

Band website

Label website