Review: Tyrant, Protector and Corroder – Oslo, Norway 13 April 2024

Rock In, Oslo, Norway.
13th April 2024.

AnnaConda Booking presents a sold-out evening at Rock In in Oslo, Norway, featuring three bands playing old-school metal.

First out are the newcomers in the thrash metal band Corroder. Although the band is new, all the members are experienced from a variety of other bands. Corroder is primarily based outside Trondheim, so we can mention several bands from Trønderlag where the members are involved in, or have been involved in, such as Whoredome Rife, Bloodthorn, Goat the Head, Chton, Lumsk, and Stigma. A newer member of the band is someone based in Oslo, but he is the brother of drummer Espen Hektoen, namely Kjetil Hektoen. Kjetil is primarily known as a drummer, in bands like Crest of Darkness, Enthral, Sjodogg, and Proselytism. But in Corroder, he has set aside the drumsticks and sticks to vocals. This man really gives it his all and has a fiercely powerful vocal. Kjetil did not participate in the earliest singles and demos, but he can be heard on the EP “Both Feet in the Grave” released last summer. I have faith in Corroder as a breath of fresh air in the Norwegian black thrash scene as this sounds very solid, and the band can definitely handle their instruments. Corroder’s concert is also the one witnessed by the most spectators, and Rock In is packed from the first to the last song.

Protector is a German thrash metal band that started way back in 1986 and was part of the early German thrash metal wave. Despite that, they ended up in the shadow of bands like Sodom, Kreator, and Destruction. They were perhaps simply a couple of years too late to join the party. But the debut album “Golem” from 1988 is solid stuff. I have written quite a bit about this band before. We can go all the way back to 2007 when Protector played at Club Maiden in Oslo alongside a very young version of Nekromantheon, before they had released anything. At that time, they went by the name “Protectors” or “Martin Missy and the Protectors,” which was the full name. Vocalist Martin Missy moved to Sweden in 1996, and in 2006 he started a cover band of his own band. In 2011, they changed their name to just Protector and have continued to release albums like the original band. Yes, a complicated history. But now Protector is back in Norway and delivering solid old-school thrash metal once again. Martin Missy himself speaks both German and Swedish between songs and seems to be enjoying himself. The audience does too, despite there being significantly fewer people for Protector than for Corroder. But that’s the big difference, it’s just so much easier to see the stage during Protector, and for me, that’s a positive. The only thing I have to criticize about the concert is that it gets a bit thin when the solos come in, as the band only has one guitarist, and the bass doesn’t sound thick enough to compensate for the lack of rhythm guitar. But otherwise, this is a good concert.

There are ridiculously many bands called Tyrant. But here we are talking about the Swedish black thrash band that released “Reclaim The Flame” in 2007. They did some concerts at that time, including at the Raise The Dead festival in Oslo. But in 2011, it came to a halt, and the band held their last concert that same year. Now the band is back, at least for this one concert, so that’s something to appreciate. However, I have a feeling that they are a bit of a forgotten chapter since they only released one album that didn’t get much attention. Tyrant also has the least audience this evening at Rock In, somewhat ironically as they are the headliners. But fortunately, they save their headliner spot by playing tough black thrash, which is just as much death and roll when it all comes down to it. Thoughts drift from everything from Sodom to Entombed. Perhaps that has something to do with the members being well-known from the Swedish scene, with bands like Usurpess, Iron Lamb, Vinterland, The Black, and Arcana on their resumes. Bassist Daniel Ekeroth is also known for having written the book Swedish Death Metal, so he knows his stuff. It should be noted that the band has an extremely rough start, and already during the first song, the guitar goes out, and the band stops and humorously thanks for themselves. But when the band returns to the stage, it sounds seriously tough. It’s a bit sloppy, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment factor that the concert offers. With such a successful concert, it’s permissible to hope that Tyrant is back and has a new album in the works.