Tomb Mold : "the Enduring Spirit"

 

This band's 2019 album failed to impress. I gave it a 6, so chances are it focused on the math of riffs and not enough song writing. This time around they are putting more effort into the songwriting. They still throw a great deal at you , with the technical flair that might impress some. The key for me not matter how heavy you are or what style of music you play is if you are writing song I want to listen to again . The opening track, worked pretty well on the second listen, so that is an improvement. 'Angelic Fabrications" seems to work off more the standard death metal tropes, so not as much replay value.

The jazzy clean tones help set "Will of Whispers" apart from the other songs thus far. It injects the needed shift in a more melodic direction. Then they begin to break out the calculators in order to come up with the riffs to "Fates' Tangled Thread". The more deliberate riffs that should be hooky, fall flat in that department, and the guttural grunting seems to not have a real purpose to add to the song. There is a great deal of death metal where this is the case so it is not just a problem area for this band. "Flesh as Armor" places emphasis on the break neck speed they attack the song with . I guess if you are a guitarist who is under 30 years old, you might finds this style of playing interesting. The angular riffs dance around the core of the song, without giving it direction. There are some crunchy parts and the solo section seemed to make the most sense. Some of the guitar solos have a very cosmic feel to the chaos they bring, but I am not sure what it is even worth .

"Servants of Possibility' finds their bag of tricks beginning to wear thin. The riffs are not as catchy and lean more in the direction of the rule we have here that states... cool riffs alone does not a good song make. They close the album with the eleven and a half minute "the Enduring Spirit of Calamity" . Five minutes it winds down into the more jazzy clean tones that added melody earlier in the album,. and serve as a much more impressive display of guitar skills. I will give this one an 8, while it's not close to being a top death metal album of 2023, it's an improvement over the last album I reviewed. Being released on 20 Buck Spin.  

 

November is Doom- Dream Unending :"Song of Salvation"

 

There are many interesting elements in motion going into the opening track of this album. Normally when it comes to what gets labelled as death doom, it's just slow death metal that is perhaps a little more melodic than death metal. These bands often take inspiration from the like of Paradise Lost. This project however seems to be drawing more inspiration from atmospheric funeral doom, Mournful Congregation being the first band that comes to mind. They have woven some really beautiful reverb-tinged guitar sounds that drift over lingering drums and a low guttural funeral doom like growl crawling under it all. Sumerland drummer Justin DeTore handles both the drumming and the vocals.  Tomb Mold guitarist Deirrick Vella shows off some impressive chops on this album.

Shredding aside, the testament to their song writing lies in how enthralled I was by the opening song that I never noticed it was 14 minutes long until I was already ten minutes deep in the song. Stunning guitar continues to be the order of the day on "Secret Grief". There are also woefully sung vocals thanks to Hour of Thirteen Vocalist Phil Swanson. The song does build back into a powerfully heavy crescendo that brings back the growl of the death metal vocals. They prove they can write a fully formed doom song in five minutes which is impressive. Then there is a not quiet three-minute instrumental that serves more as an interlude.  Things continue to wallow in the dreamy swirl of somber guitars going into "Unrequited". This song is another showcase for them to wow you with guitar solos which I normally do not like, except they do it with so much class that it is not masturbatory. 

"Ecstatic Reign" is another mammoth sprawl that is just as epic in scope as the opening track. Female vocals float in with ghostly ease, after as more primal roar starts off the song's narrative. At the six-minute mark things begin to get real metal again. There is a riff in the midst of this that reminds me of the build in "In My Darkest Hour". They simmer back down into the more depressing deliberation that the genre is known for, I love when doom is juxtaposed with beautiful passages as it not only brings the crushing contrast of the metallic end of the spectrum with greater dynamic punch, but it shows how emotionally complex death is as a subject. The end of life being the end of suffering. I will give this one a 9.5, as some of the instrumental section could have leaned less on sound and more on song, as the proved they can do both, but perhaps that part will grow on me.  

 

Tomb Mold : "Planetary Clairvoyance"

It is always weird to me when the drummer in a death metal band is the growler. When you have thundering double bass it seems like a great deal of multitasking. These guys are going for a dirty old school sound. It is pretty impressive when he is growling over the faster sections, though it is highly unlikely he does that in the studio, he still has to deliver live. Like most extreme metal bands they get a pass on the first song because you are just caught up in how heavy it is. After that the question needs to be raised , but can these guys write a song. Another fair question at this point is also what are these guys doing that I have not heard before?  The latter part is not really explored into the melodic break down at the four and a half minute mark,

There is more of a full frontal blasting assault to "Planetary clairvoyance", Even then these guys get credit for breaking it up and not going the most direct route. This is where the originality lies, not in the low Cannibal Corpse like vocals. There is a similar bull dozing hammering effect with "Infinite Ressurection" the emphasis begins to become speed. The songs start racing past me and all sounding the same so I had to go back and give it a more focused listen. They keep this opaque aggression in place , though still manage to find some groove on "Accelerative Phenomenae". They don't let this breath for long and the formula seems to expand and contract when it comes to how up close and personal the full speed ahead gets.

"Cerulean Salvation" has a few riff with some hook to it , but the wall of double bass and tremolo picked walls of density coming at you obscure any dynamics. "Heat Death" pretty much seems like a continuation of the previous song. I would not say this album runs out of steam, but it all comes a blur that bores me by the last song. The captured good sounds and have their moments so I will give this album a 6. If heavy is what you want out of your death metal, then this is worth your time. It comes out on 20 Buck Spin.