{"id":372587,"date":"2025-11-11T23:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/372587\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T23:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T23:11:16","slug":"burned-in-effigy-tyrannus-aeternum-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/372587\/","title":{"rendered":"Burned in Effigy – Tyrannus Aeternum Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"On their debut, Rex Mortem, the king was dead, but on Burned in Effigy<\/strong>\u2019s sophomore effort, Tyrannus Aeternum, the king is now eternal. Their brand of neo-classical melodeath impressed Holdeneye <\/strong>three years ago\u2014he hailed the debut as a mix of \u201cbrutal and beautiful.\u201d However, he showed a rare moment of restraint in scoring Rex Mortem just shy of the vaunted 4.0, and plenty of commenters felt it should have earned that extra notch. Melodeath acts are a dime a dozen, and they don\u2019t always successfully elevate themselves above the generic. So when Burned in Effigy<\/strong> infused their songs with virtuoso-level guitar melodies that emulated classical compositions, they quickly rose above the pack. At just a tidy 32 minutes, fans wanted moar, and now they seek to deliver\u2014moar songs, moar length\u2014on Tyrannus Aeternum.<\/p>\n

Be careful what you wish for\u2014moar is not always better. While there are certainly more songs, this album of neo-classical melodeath is notably shy of the neo-classical riffs that made the debut so electric. Tyrannus Aeternum hews a little too close to Burned in Effigy<\/strong>\u2019s main source of inspiration, The<\/strong> Black Dahlia Murder<\/strong>, and some tracks, like \u201cMasquerade,\u201d sound like they could have come straight off of Abysmal or Nighbringers. This isn\u2019t to say there\u2019s nothing to enjoy. The front half has good energy and concise song lengths, even if most of the songs don\u2019t hit quite as hard as anything on the debut. Plus, the record sounds great. The dual guitar approach remains impressive\u2014there\u2019s still plenty of noodly stuff and some melodic riffs that will remind you of the debut. As usual, Smedy\u2019s vocal attack provides a lot of character, as he alternates between Strnad-like rasps and throaty growls. The kit work by Eddie Dec is a particular standout. His speedy, muscular blast beats steal the show on \u201cSacrificial Seance\u201d and \u201cMonstrosity Reborn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ufeffTyrannus Aeternum by Burned In Effigy<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Rex Mortem\u2019s strengths was its conciseness, and on Tyrannus Aeternum, Burned in Effigy<\/strong> introduce some bloat. It\u2019s not that 45 minutes is necessarily too long, but where songs on the debut hit the 3-4 minute sweet spot, here they often drag on too long. This gets worse on the back half, where most tracks top five minutes. This final stretch becomes wearying, except for the fantastic \u201cThe Racking.\u201d The back half also shifts away from the energetic melodeath and more into death-doom territory. These songs still have plenty of good moments, but the lack of hooks makes some of them, frankly, boring. The final two tracks represent the worst stretch on the record. It would have been better to end on the high note of \u201cThe Racking\u201d rather than make us wade through an extra ten minutes of forgettable tunes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Burned in Effigy<\/strong> show signs of their former selves on the two standout tracks, but it takes until song number five, \u201cWage of Exile,\u201d to get there. The song opens with a neo-classical melodic lead\u2014finally!\u2014and doesn\u2019t let up the energy until ending on the thematically appropriate, \u201cLong live the king!\u201d As good as this is, it\u2019s \u201cThe Racking\u201d that steals the show. It sounds fresh and lively, employing a wide variety of guitar techniques\u2014melodic leads, tremolos, and even a neo-classical bass line\u2014as well as some classical strings to keep it sounding fresh and energetic. Tyrannus Aeternum also has a couple of one-minute interludes where Burned in Effigy<\/strong> are at their most experimental musically. \u201cProcession\u201d takes a brief break with some upbeat Spanish guitar, while \u201cGallows Hymn\u201d is more whimsical and cinematic, sounding like it could find a home on the score for Wednesday. Since these interludes precede the two best tunes on Tyrannus Aeternum, one could argue they should have included more of them.<\/p>\n

Sadly, this is probably the biggest disappointment of the year for me. There\u2019s a part of me that wonders if I\u2019m more down on this just because it doesn\u2019t live up to its predecessor. Yet, if this were the debut instead, I don\u2019t think Burned in Effigy<\/strong> would have garnered as much attention. Nonetheless, there\u2019s plenty to enjoy on Tyrannus Aeternum, and plenty to show that Rex Mortem wasn\u2019t a fluke. This feels like a band still trying to shore up its own identity, and hopefully, by the next go-around, they\u2019ll have a better grasp on who they are and return to their exciting roots.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 2.5\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 8 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps mp3
Label<\/strong>: Self-Released
Websites<\/strong>: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: October 31st, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On their debut, Rex Mortem, the king was dead, but on Burned in Effigy\u2019s sophomore effort, Tyrannus Aeternum,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":372588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[24053,1444,18521,179375,23639,171,118428,975,179376,141230,2290,11853,118439,128398,179377,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-372587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-5","9":"tag-1444","10":"tag-american-metal","11":"tag-burned-in-effigy","12":"tag-death-metal","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-melodic-death-metal","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-neo-classical-metal","17":"tag-oct25","18":"tag-review","19":"tag-reviews","20":"tag-self-released","21":"tag-the-black-dahlia-murder","22":"tag-tyrannus-aeternum","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115533597745048553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}