Edmonton’s Tyrant recently released their EP The Existential Reversal on June 15th, and you can grab your copy here. The group are currently promoting their next show, which is scheduled for July 19th at the Denizen Freehouse. These Canadian metallers formed back in 2011 and this EP has shown their style has grown ever since as they have added a blistering edge to their overall sound. We were lucky to speak to vocalist Brett Reid to discuss the EP, their first album, the Canadian metal scene and more.
For those who don’t know, can you talk a little bit more about Tyrant?
Well we’ve been playing for a little while now; the band originally started when guitarist Marshall was in highschool in 2011. There had been a variety of members in the band, but once we got these five fellas together, we started locking down a good mix of tunes nailing some banging shows – Skeletonwitch, GoatWhore, and Protest The Hero in the Mac. We’ve wanted to keep getting big shows and get some Canadian tours together with hopes of breaking into the European market next year.
What was the writing process for the new EP The Existential Reversal?
Marshall started writing a couple of the tunes and him and Rob started to hash them out on guitar. Once we get/had a skeleton of a tune down, drummer and bassist Kurtis and Taylor would write their parts in jam and Brett our vocalist would get lyrical patterns and write the content. We feel that these three songs fit really well as a three track EP and we wanted to release that to the world.
Are you working on a full-length follow-up to 2015’s Limitations?
We have a few plans for new music in the future, but the next immediate focus is re-recording 2015’s Limitations. Both our sound and those songs have developed so much over the years and we want the EP to reflect the way we play those songs at our live shows. While we work on that, we’re going to continue to write a full length record as well as play shows around the Country.
What are your musical influences?
There’s a lot of influence in our playing and I think each member portrays their own unique blend of influence from what we all listen to. We’re always sharing new music with each other, and I think it definitely guides the writing process for new music. Some names to throw out there would be Sylosis, Revocation, Black Crown Initiate, Mastodon, and As I Lay Dying.
Do you have any touring plans coming up?
At the moment, we don’t have any solid tour plans set up. We might try to link up with some dudes in Calgary and do a bit of a western Canadian leg, but for the meantime, we’re trying to get shows around northern Alberta – Hinton, Edson, Fort Mac, and GP, as well as Edmonton.
Would you consider performing at 70,000tons of metal?
Does the tin man have a sheet metal cock? We’d play the god damn poop deck if that’s all they had. But seriously, it would be such an incredible time playing 70,000. Fingers crossed that that’s on the horizon!
In your opinion, what are some of the best newer Canadian metal bands?
We’re fortunate that we’ve had the pleasure of playing and seeing a good handful of some of the best in Canada, but a few are Neck Of The Woods, Wolfrik, Archspire, Becomes Astral, Protosequence, Eye Of Horus, Plaugbringer, Illyrian, and those AngelMaker dudes are just making waves. They’re not all necessarily new, but they’re getting into the main spotlight and it’s pretty fuckin’ exciting for Canadian music.
What are your thoughts on Slayer’s retirement?
It’s pretty wild, 35 years of bone crushing thrash is unreal. And the final tour lineup was fucking sweet. Hard to believe it, but one of the gnarliest bands in our existence finally hangs it up and I think metalheads everywhere are thankful for what Slayer accomplished. \m/
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Well, thanks for the interview! And all you people out there, get out to a local show and support that shit! We’ll see you all sometime soon.
