Woe Of Tyrants really got me going with their 2009 album Kingdom Of Might. Their music had energy, creativity, and just plain kicked ass - and proved that the melodeath genre is still alive and well. I had high hopes for this album, even though it was written and released somewhat quickly. Unfortunately, as I believe someone in the forums feared, the band simply did not take enough time to write another great album. Where KoM was creative and full of emotion, Threnody is tedious and bland. Except for a few songs, I almost couldn't believe I was hearing the same band that released such a phenomenal record so early in their career.

After listening to the album a couple times, I was not very impressed, certainly not as much as I was by their last release. The execution in terms of musicianship is great, but the songs just seemed to lack character. This did not change after repeated listens. Creatures Of The Mire starts the album off after the short intro track, and comes in with familiar heavy riffs and high speed drumwork along with the death growls of Chris Catanzaro. This song's production gives too much emphasis to the larger drums in my opinion, it's simply distracting. Other than that the instruments themselves are played quite well and Catanzaro's voice sounds just as brutal as I remember it. This song just seems to seriously lack direction. There's just no part of it I can really grab onto to hold my attention. Venom Eye is up next and starts out with an epic sounding melody, something this band really enjoys using in their music. The energy gets kicked on after this with plenty of fast riffs and blasting drums. Once again, this is not a bad song, but nothing spectacular. The title track does create a nice atmosphere in the beginning with acoustic guitars and violin, but the intro does get a bit lengthy. When the heavy riffs do finally come in, they are the same standard thing we've been hearing already. Even the solos sound uninspired. Based on the riffing they use here, you can occasionally still hear the old school death metal influences, but the modern melody always comes to the forefront. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just seems this band is struggling with keeping their own original sound fresh and exciting.

One positive thing I do have to mention is the excellent drumming of Johnny Roberts. Honestly I could listen to this guy play drums all day long, he's definitely one of the most talented drummers I have ever heard in a melodeath outfit. Alas he is unable to pull this album out of the mire. I do want to mention the song Bloodsmear though. This is actually a really refreshing take on melody in death metal; crushing walls of guitar riffs and layered melodic leads, a memorable chorus, not to mention super-tight drumming that just kills. This is what the whole album should have sounded like.

In the end I really do not have much to say about this album. This is certainly a disappointment for me as I was really hoping the band would be able to improve on their previous excellence. Unfortunately I think the band really did not take the time to sit down and concentrate on writing new material…perhaps they were pressured to write and release this album by the label? Whatever the reason for it, this album is just plain monotonous compared to Kingdom Of Might. Often while listening to it I couldn't even tell when one song ended and another began. The band clearly still has, and is willing to use, the technical chops, but just does not deliver in terms of songwriting. They can do much better and they know it.