Tyrranicide - God Save the Scene

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Out of San Francisco’s legendary Bay Area Thrash scene back in the 80s, a lesser known band known as TYRRANICIDE dwelled on its outskirts. The hard rocking Punk Thrashers formed in Orwellian 1984 on Halloween, originally under the name MAYHEM before changing it for their first demo “Hiding Under White”. The band wasn’t entirely obscure, they got to tour with the likes of METALLICA, ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT, and EXODUS. “God Save the Scene” is the only full-length release to their name. They released an EP in ’92 three years after, as well as a split Flexi 8” with LIQUID COURAGE (a band so damned to the annals of obscurity, there is next to no mention of their existence anywhere on the internet), but sadly TYRRANICIDE put down their guitars in 1993. Years later their debut has been given a spit shine and rereleased by Divebomb Records (subdivision of Tribunal Records). It’s a special deluxe reissue of 2 CDs with ten extra tracks and five demos!

The slow plodding “Hiding Under White” is merely a ploy to get your guard down. It breaks into sprints unpredictably so it’s best to be prepared. TYRRANICIDE has a DIY feel to their tracks, complete with Jeff Hill’s raw vocals (untainted even by the remastering) and that’s because they recorded, produced and mixed their debut on Hill’s own label Whirling Dervish Records for the reasonable price of $800 back in 1988. “Think for Yourself”, “Drink, Drive and Die”, and “Peer Pressure” give off MUNICIPAL WASTE vibes before MUNICIPAL WASTE was even a thing! Previously unreleased tracks like “Hard Like a Machine” and “His and Hearse” spew nasty rage in all directions with harsh, unclean riffs and violent lyrics, originally, they were intended to be a part of a sophomore release but they were relegated to being EPs. TYRRANICIDE plays nothing short of fast and angry with more than enough reason to believe the songs are designed to make you destroy your speakers from overenthusiastic headbanging.

Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 7