Tombs - "the Grand Annihilation"

Any questions regarding Tombs legitimacy as black metal is cleared the fuck up right from the first few notes. The guitar tone peels your face off and leaves a bloody stain on the wall behind you.  Mike Hill's growl has a Neurosis-like rasp to it when the song slows down as the lyrics are articulated. The songs are all respectable lengths rarely venturing over the seven-minute mark. There is more of a deliberate gallop to "Cold". Drummer Charlie Schmid really pulls his weight when it comes to the double bass on this song. The only thing I have noticed and this is two songs in is this feels more like a metallic effort than "All Empires Fall". The chords sometimes dip into the shadows, but darkness is not as pervading. The only reason I think Fade Kainer might still be involved is the way the vocals are layered on "the tear away the Veil" . If there are synths on this they are mixed way the hell down. By the time we get to "Old Wounds" I begin to miss the more goth touches of previous albums, this is solved by a more death rock vocal thrown in for two phrases.  They are certainly good at giving you straight-up metal, but I need the more atmospheric touches to balance it out.

This shadow side of the band begins to make itself known again going into "November Wolves" I am not asking for a lot here, just little touches like how a sung vocal doubles up the harsh declarations. The song has a bulldozing groove to its chug. The vocal refrain in the last two minutes is pretty awesome and well-sung. I also like that this song reminds me a little of Dissection. The darkness becomes the main focus with the sung vocals that take the mic on "Underneath" which seems to be perfectly tailored to my personal music tastes. So thanks guys for that. When you think of goth metal it's normally so frilly and Vampire of the Masquerade that it takes all the balls from it. As much as I love them I will admit that this even took the edge from Type O Negative at times. But they prove you can have the best of both worlds.

They hit you with a more frontal assault on the scathing blast of "Way of the Storm". I think Hill's commentary on the world around him is veiled is post-apocalyptic imagery with stars falling from the sky.  When they slow into a more Celtic Frost-like chug the results are stunning. They stay in a similar grinding tempo on "Shadows At the End of the World". The lyrical theme of the world being broken and burning with killing fields being reaped continues. I like this as I think it sucks that all the metalheads are on my Facebook crying about how Trump is the anti-Christ and wanting peace. What a bunch of posers, if you are going to be into black metal or death metal then this is the end you should have been wanting, destruction and chaos if you like to toy with them vicariously through songs, but are afraid if what it looks like in real life then the diapers are on aisle 9. Then again I am a depressed nihilist so I hope we all get nuked by North Korea, it will have me another suicide attempt.

Sorry for the rant but it is relevant here as it reflects the sort of world painted by the lyrics of this album."Temple of Mars" doesn't paint a happier picture either. The vocals are somewhere between spoken and sung, with bass dragging them down into the cosmic ocean. "Walk Me into Nightmares" is almost more rock in the throb the guitar goes into. The vocals are similar to those in the previous song. This might be my favorite song on the album, even though it's not the heaviest by far, but if you know my tastes by now you will understand this. There is still even greater rock styling to the perhaps more dreary "Saturnalian" . The black metal tremolo picking surfaces and the harsher vocal return. The bass and the drums are locked in like a machine. At the three-minute mark things slow back down and get darker and more chaotic. I think it's obvious that this is the soundtrack the world needs right now it without question gets a 10. The album is almost split into two parts on the front end If you thought the more post-punk elements were diluting the more metallic properties then make most mistake this part of the album is up in you as metal as it gets. Then if your tastes fall more on the dark side as mine do then you have to hang on and you get that too.

Statiqbloom : "Blue Moon Blood"

The opening track meets in that dark alley created in 90s by the likes of Skinny Puppy and pre-metal riffs Ministry. It has a beat the hammers you as it makes you dance. Things get even darker on "Black Walks Eternal" Fade offers a wider range of vocal flavor some of these more tortured and almost death rock like. The samples are clever and well placed. The vocals are used to set the tone to "Crooked Line" has do so with a smart syncopation that compliments the rough beat under it. "Talons Teeth" comes much closer to being the more typical brand of industrial that blared in most of the clubs during the genre's peak. The vocals are shouted in the cyber-drill Sargent manner, but a few other vocal colors are injected. There is more of a creeping synth slither to "Adrift". The vocals are more of a croaked narrative. It does find it's groove like the others and works of a more droning pulse.

"Feel the Flesh" finds Skinny Puppy's long lost "Rabies" drum sound. They had a somewhat more angular glitch to the pattern and the vocals take on a lower murmur. I like the more sung vocal moan that the 2:30 mark. It took me a second listen before I paid attention to "Mortuary". It is a little more formless than the rest of the album. The vocals are in a low whispered underneath the formless shift of the beat that never takes on a groove. "Nigredo" not only has a beat, it has one that pretty much slays the rest of the album, and this song might have my favorite lyrics as well.

The synth pulse in "Pale Lust" feels like a theme that is being continued from the previous song. It is almost like the outro for "Nigredo" if it was allowed to drone out more. The albums closes with the chaotic epic "Phantom Eye". The songs starts off with samples colliding into the beat and ambient noise smacking you around a bit. The song never takes form like the others. It flirts with many of the elements that I have like throughout the album, but here they are thrown against the wall for the sake of seeing what sticks. When the beat builds by the end of the song it does gel more for me. Overall the songs he decides are going to be songs are all excellent. I will round this one up to a 9 and see how it sits on me.

Tombs : " All Empires Fall"

What happens on Tombs new album should not come as a surprise considering how they have evolved with each album. The last album might not have been as dark as the previous, but Mike Hill and company continue to evolve. With the inclusion of Fade Kainer into the fold on "All Empires Fall" it made me think the industrial influence that has lurking under the surface would rise like Godzilla. This is not the case. They make it clear the metal isn't going anywhere. They kick the fucking door down with a neck crushing riff on the opening instrumental "the World is Made of Fire". They lash into something closer to straight up black metal for "Obsidian". It's not just full blast ahead. These guys have more tricks up their sleeves. Does Kainer's synths bring another sonic layer? Yes, but it doesn't compromise their sound.

The darkness rolls in on "the Last Day of Sunlight". This finds the band reaching the next level. Hill comes in with a low croon. The music slither around him in an almost exotic death rock fashion. We have heard this side of the band before, here it is just more fully embraced. Tribal drumming lead into the bass driven beginning to "Deceiver". Here the band fuses the two sounds into something dark and heavy with a ton of crunch to it. The verse riff has almost of Motorhead feel before going into the more chugged chorus. I had already heard "V" which finds them blending their dark side perfectly with the more metal muscle of their sound. I didn't even have to keep score on this one it gets a 10, this is what I want out of music. The only thing wrong with this release is the fact it's an EP rather than a full length, because it leaves me still wanting more.



 This album is being released on Relapse Records April 1st.