Canadian metalheads Tyrants of Chaos lay their cards on the table from the get-go on new album Relentless Thirst For Power; T.O.C. – the thunderous opening track – is a balls to the wall heavy metal anthem, resonant of all the names you’d associate with such a descriptor! And if they don’t quite manage to maintain that high level of mayhemic destruction for the rest of the album, then there is certainly enough great material here to keep all but the most heard-hearted metalhead happy.

In fact they bookend the album with their best tracks – never a bad idea, when you come to think about it – with petrol head rocker Lucky Dog rounding things up just effectively as T.O.C. opened them; the band have created a superb, dense sound (self-produced by guitarist Arik Wagner) that, despite it’s compressed sound enables all the instruments to cut through to claim some space in the sun. Wagner and co-guitarist Curtiss Vaselenak throw up a thrashy wall of sound for the most part, aided by a great tone that sometimes brings to mind Dave Mustaine at his peak – especially during the chugging rhythm passages that pepper the record. When the pair lock together with rhythm section Sean Simpson (bass – listen to his admirable rumble on Mourning Sickness!) and drummer Ryan Dyck, they release a sound that could rattle the very bowels of hell. Which is a pretty good noise to make!

Vocalist Phil Sirias acquits himself well over the top of all this, giving particularly assured performances on Slay The Hostages and especially his own standout performance, on the thrashy Skull Crusher, where he gives his full range a good workout.

Historical headbanger Red Rage would be the track that I feel doesn’t quite fit the general template quite so well, but it wouldn’t do to dwell on the negative when there is so much positive creativity to celebrate here. If traditional, thrash-tinged heavy metal is your thing, you should probably get to know Tyrants of Chaos pretty soon!

Relentless Thirst For Power releases on August 19th.