Deathcycle called it quits earlier this year, though they managed to get one more full-length out of their system just prior to that -- Prelude to Tyranny, a straightforward NYHC album that, while isn't terribly brilliant or groundbreaking, gets the job done.

If the title didn't give it away, this is a band that is absolutely outraged at the government and the destruction it's caused, and doesn't let up their hatred for the course of all 11 songs. 9/11 conspiracies are alluded to "Enemy of the State," while "Blueprint for Enslavement" and "Good Person = Bad American" both get pissed in to-the-point, mid-tempo, catchy ways ("There is no more time / stop wasting mine / with your democrats, republicans and 'party lines'"; "How come being a good person / makes me a bad American? / It's better than being a bad person").

Musically, Tyranny sort of sounds like Agnostic Front if Roger Miret didn't resemble Fozzy Bear these days, or Sheer Terror (ex-alum represented here), maybe. There's also an occasionally burly charge reminsicent of Kill Your Idols (a band Deathcycle and current None More Black bassist Paul Delaney spent some time with, too), but absolutely nothing on here sounds remotely positive or happy. Some carefully intermittent splashes of `80s thrash-metal in the guitar work help mix things up, though.

While a very decent entry into the long-stretched pissed-off political hardcore spectrum, there's something largely missing here and it's a pity Deathcycle didn't stick around long enough to find it. Still, with such a sore lack of newer, solid NY(C)HC acts forming, it's worth a listen if the void is killing you endlessly (wocka wocka).

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Enemy of the State
An Accomplice to Murder
The Future I See