Woe! After an abject cheese-laden sugar high in the warm embrace of Metal o’ the Light, it is finally time for some trve brutality. Death Metal is on the menu and the folks over at Rise of Tyrants are enraged to the point of obsession.
Meaning, they’re on a mission to tell their story. Directly, ferociously, and without mercy. And why should they show any? The storyline is about priestly abuse, no less. Atrocities that the Roman Catholic Church is still trying to hide to this date. Assignment fully accomplished, or rampant mission creep? Creepy crawlers in empty smoke-infested buildings.
YouTube made us pick up The Chronicles of Cardinal Pablo Mendoza in earnest. It appears that the anal thought police over at the Google outlet slammed an age-restricted label on some of the band’s content. Meaning, the service smelt the terrible stench of wicked corruption. And that piqued our interest. Or more accurately, it led to a round of evil chuckles around the RMR Review Desk and some energy to pursue. But it also made them question why this band was never heard of in our back office.
And sure enough, Rise of Tyrants don’t publish content often. Their last album – Abnormality in Structure – aired back in 2019 and their debut saw the light of day in 2014. So, please forgive us for not having scoured the Bergamasque Alps around Bergamo in search of lost metal souls. But once the band jolts itself into (reluctant) action, their wares are feisty to a fine point. The Chronicles of Cardinal Pablo Mendoza contains an interesting mix of Death, Brutal Death, and an array of Technical Death Metal with a goodly boatload of thrash and some blackened goodies mixed in for good measure. In a way, you get a refreshing brand of Scandinavian Death Metal gone to Italy. Snazzy, huh? We think so, too.
Pablo‘s story is told by an endless discourse between evilly blackened rasps and typical Death Metal growls. Complete with high-pitched metal screams that would make Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth) proud. That said, it is – again – beyond me how a band can work a theme of such gravitas expressed in growls and rasps only. It is frankly impossible to follow the lyrics without having a cheat sheet handy. For instance, I would have loved to find out how on earth the track How Can I Fuck Capitalism would sync with songs such as Don Mario Pederasta. An impromptu accident in storytelling? Perhaps.
All of this metal ferocity slams itself onto a skeletal frame of frugal riffs complete with some rare solos, the occasional breakdown (Cardinal Pablos Mendoza, for instance), and often somewhat anemic drum work. But interestingly, The Chronicles got enough slightly melodic infusions to allow for a somewhat modern version of their often slightly blackened metallic fare. But make no mistake, no keys or synths were used in any significant manner.
And as is often the case in Scandinavian-style Death Metal fare, the welcome grimy brutality is prone to the terrible repetition bug. A problem that has, over the years, become more of a fixture than a real problem with Metal o’ The North. And The Chronicles here truly aren’t devoid of that terrible bug either. What can a DM band really do about it, right? But Rise of Tyrants just proved them naysayers wrong. There’s a lot of same, same, but similar stuff in there, true. But the attention to detail and their cutthroat use of different facets of DM actually made the record.
Ultimately, The Chronicles of Cardinal Pablo Mendoza roars onto the scene exactly as promised. A red-hot slab of unapologetic Extreme Metal, fueled by raw fury on a holy mission of sorts. Proof of the proverbial pudding that unchecked energy and diversification works, even in stale metal genres. A fitting reckoning with the usual weirdly robed abusers delivered sternly and written in unambiguously merciless Death Metal. Rise of Tyrants are angry, they take no prisoners, and they are loud and proud about it.
Rightly so.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Brutal Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 28 February 2025