Ceremony from Holland were always overshadowed by the more popular Dutch death metal band Sinister. They did, however, release an extremely good yet overlooked full-length album in 1993 called Tyranny From Above. Since it was 1993 and the album was unfortunately released by a lesser label such as Cyber Music, we all quickly passed it by. After all, by 1993, death metal was on its way out and black metal was quickly coming in. Although the band split up by 1995, they would ultimately reunite in 2015. The band returned in 2019 with a new album called Retribution. Going back in Dutch death metal history then Tyranny From Above is still a stand-out album. At this stage of the genre's evolution, it was quite obviously going to be a stylistically familiar assault to the American acts populating the scene, and that's what becomes quite prominent here. The ravenous riff-work here comes through so clearly out of that primitive, dirty thrashing style. Each track is densely layered with pretty crushing, interesting riffs without beating you over the head with technical complexity. The pacing is pretty consistent and formulaic on each track, fast into mid-tempo headbangers, but never boring. There is a clear sense of urgency in each riff that keeps you engaged straight through the whole 36 minute onslaught. The vocals are totally on point. Dutch death metal is generally awesome. Although not quite as distinctive as their northern neighbors, it is still very much definitive in its own right and, in my opinion, totally under appreciated by death metal nerds who obsess over Swedish or Finnish bands. Ceremony is certainly one of the essential bands of the Netherlands.
