Artist: Mutilated Tyrant
Album: Ho'dichiih Dóó' Sáji'
Label: Self-Released
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Genre: Black Metal
Mutilated Tyrant are a black metal trio from Ganado, Arizona, which is on the Navajo Nation Reservation. This is their second release and first EP. While their first demo, Dark Sign of the Baphomet, was more death metal influenced and steeped in metal cliches of satanism and blasphemy, this EP sees the band honing in a more purely black metal sound, definitely inspired by the second wave Norwegian scene. As the EP's title would suggest, this release also focuses more on the band's Navjo/Diné roots. The title translates to "Birth to Old".
The EP begins with the sound of crows cawing over a sinister synth loop and the beating of war drums, setting the attitude for the journey ahead. The band wastes no time after the intro, with "Under the Cold Dark Moon" starting immediately with an assault of tremolo picked chords and blasting drums. The music evokes the feeling of a nightside journey under the full moon on horseback through the vast deserts that the Navajo call home. The band does an excellent job of breathing new life into the cold and bleak sounds that the Norwegians innovated, without sounding like a lazy copy cat. There is a mystical nature to these songs, that would fit nicely as soundtrack to a nocturnal ceremony around a large fire. The band mentions that these four songs are going to be part of a full-length album due some time in the near future, and I look forward to when that day comes.
