The wind is blowing for Typhonian.
The German band formed in 2017 and quickly released a debut independent album, followed by an EP. In 2024, M.W. Styrum (vocals, Vibrio Cholera), Prometheus (guitar/bass, Tombworld), Typhon (guitar, ex-Furcate), Thanatos (drums) and Charybdis (bass, Steel Messiah, Demons Dream, ex-Furcate) unveil their second album, The Gate of the Veiled Beyond, with Transcending Obscurity Records.
The first notes of Celestial Salvation are barely perceptible, but the introduction turns into a moment of anxiety before raw riffs and ferocious vocal parts turn it into aggression on Cosmic Throne. The band’s Death Metal is occasionally tinged with dark melodies as well as slower and more anguished parts, then Primal Deceptive Light starts out a little lighter before adopting Old School Black/Death influences, especially in the heady leads. The sound gets heavier with Crimson Rivers, creating a majestic ambience quickly broken by a livelier, but still impressive approach at times, reminiscent of the early keyboards that return for the dissonant The Gatekeeper. The oppressive passages also offer us a few more soothing moments, but there are also some sharper elements that fit in perfectly with the rhythmic march that leads us to Towards the Chamber of the Omnipresent Mind and its few seconds of quietness. It of course doesn’t last and turns into a macabre charge with a few moments of dread, but it resurfaces before the lively obscure final, followed by A Glimpse at the Starless Ocean, which anchors itself firmly into Black Metal thanks to a dark ambience from which riffs and various screams emerge. The guitars are not neglected, offering us their most polished leads before the massive Cath’un – The Gate of the Veiled Beyond takes over for nineteen minutes in which the band establishes a haunting atmosphere, then ignites and finally returns to hazy airy tones, stirred by waves of fury, melodious solos and even some interesting clean vocal passages.
Typhonian‘s Death Metal is just as capable of being raw as dark, sometimes developing an oppressive or epic atmosphere on The Gate of the Veiled Beyond. The final track is literally theatrical.
85/100
