Album Review: Amongst Lions by Last Year's Tragedy

The awfulness of 2020 is finally behind us and the air is thick with hope and boundless possibilities. Well, here we are, 2021 at last. The most anticipated album by metalcore titans Last Year Tragedy is finally out. Amongst Lions marks the first full-length album by Last Year Tragedy after their 2013 EP, Challenge Accepted. After releasing their “comeback” singles “Perihelion, Mammoth, and Pounds for Flesh” in mid-2019 and 2020, the Kenyan Metalcore band have now delivered the culmination of several months of work and their first full-length release.

For a band well known to be the kings of metalcore in the Kenyan metal scene, Amongst Lions surges with a fury and intensity that few other metal bands can match. Right from the first notes of opening tracks “Of Faith and Ruins” and “Dwarfed”, it is clear that the band means business and is not afraid to shake things up. Everything which made up an LYT song in the past is there, with the harsh vocals from Chizi and clean vocals from Ted sounding much more refined than previously. I have to admit vocalists Chizi and Ted continue to be among the best vocal pairings in the metalcore scene.

“Mammoth” is among the singles they had previously released. This track is a masterpiece on its own. Not much needs to be said about this track other than it’s awesome.

“In Medias Res” follows up with some rather fantastic drumming from George and majestic riffs from the guitarists as well as harsh vocals from Chizi which contrasts nicely with the clean vocals from Ted.

“Intercessor” launches with engaging melodic guitar runs and the introduction of emotive clean vocals of Rish and Ted Ngure to contrast the atmospheric growls of David “Chizi” Mburu, elevates the track to a high level of dark anthem.

“47 “crashes in and can hold claim to being the fastest track on Amongst Lions. Again, this is a killer track and one that’ll go down an absolute storm live. The following track “Pounds for flesh” is amongst the singles they had previously released. Again, not much needs to be said about this track other than it’s awesome.

It’s “Violation” however that takes center stage out of these tracks. Running at breakneck speed for nigh on the whole song and featuring fantastic breakdowns, melodic leads, and overlaid riffs to serve as a backdrop for the harsh-clean vocal duo.

“Threat Level Midnight” follows on with a focus on more of the modern elements introduced in the newer albums. It features some fantastic clean vocals from Ted less of harsh vocals from Chizi

Ending the album, “Aphelion” starts off calm before crashing in. Keeping the heaviness from the previous track along with the expert clean singing of Ted, the song perfectly mixes them both to create an excellent track to end the album

The artwork, like the music, is equally phenomenal. I’ve played this album over one hundred times and it hasn’t faded a single bit. ‘Amongst Lions’ is a unique and transcendent album, and it is one of those rare releases that can be confidently rated at 100%.