REVIEW: Tomb Warden, "Reflection of the Mistake" (EP)

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 5/06/2018

Label: Born Dead Records

In six blistering tracks, they drag listeners through a gallery of suffering and malignancy that will still spur on circle pits for years to come.  It’s short, nasty, and brutal.  Posers need not apply.

“Reflection of the Mistake” 7”//DD track listing

1. Eroded

2. Reality Plague

3. Bronze Bull

4. Human Trophy

5. Summary Execution

6. You’ve Learned Nothing

The Review:

               

I obsess a lot about the aesthetics of this sprawling genre.  Whether its Ed Repka art, or the nightmarish live getups of bands like Portal, or lyrics that can denounce consumerism, hypocrisy, evoke hellscapes or Tolkienesque battles, there is a massive palette that metal artists of all media can delve into.  But there’s no denying that those early, stomach churning visuals get a lot of us hooked.  Whether it was the anatomical cut and paste collages of Carcass, the tortured souls on Slayer’s early masterpieces, or the enigmatic, spooky woman sitting on Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut, some styles and sights are a quick shorthand for sonic nightmares.  When you get grimy black and white cover art, an EP title that namechecks one of Death’s best tracks, a runtime under nine minutes, and lyrics like “Echo chamber existence / Attention span eradicated / Self-indulgence plagues your head / Barricaded ego hides,” you hope to hell you’re in for some nihilistic deathgrind.  And the three-man wrecking unit of Tomb Warden do not disappoint on their first proper solo release.  After a demo and promising split releases, “Reflection of the Mistake” is one brief slab of filth that could elevate this Virginia trio to a new level.

With all my guitar, riff, and rhythm obsessions, I can sometimes give vocalists short shrift, but John Toth does one hell of a job cementing a signature presence on Tomb Warden’sproper debut.  His guttural, ogre in a bottomless chasm sound is succinct and (when you’re tracking with a lyric sheet like me) actually discernable.  This isn’t a mash of grunts and shrieks, but well-thought and elucidated visions of poetic doom.  Tracks like “Bronze Bull” and “Human Trophy” invoke the death images of early grind masters – charred bones, war trenches, inhuman brutality eclipsing any semblance of social niceties.  But there’s brains to the caveman brawn as well, with “Eroded”sparking the warning bells of that same gradual degradation of human sympathies and “Reality Plague” pointing the finger at the virtue signaling and empty gestures that pass for discourse in dumbed down modern “intellectual” interactions.  Drummer Paul Lutostanski counters Toth with some higher end shrieks that makes for a solid dynamic back and forth throughout the record.

Lutostanski’s rhythmic prowess is spot-on, balancing punky gallops, classic blasts, and on-a-dime tempo changes effortlessly.  Guitarist AND bassist Tommy Wall (I’m wondering how that works live) has his instruments nailed when it comes to no frills, monster riffing.  The tone is right, the attack is mean, and his pick hand is mighty and precise.  Meanwhile, the little technical flourishes – the slides down the guitar neck on “Bronze Bull”, the tremolo work on “Summary Execution”, the blast beat chaos on “You’ve Learned Nothing” – are so subtle that it may take a few listens to really catch just how fucking WELL these guys do this.  I’m into double digit replays of this mean little slab of grind and I’m still finding new riffs, new vocal dynamics, new rhythmic flourishes.  In six blistering tracks, they drag listeners through a gallery of suffering and malignancy that will still spur on circle pits for years to come.  It’s short, nasty, and brutal.  Posers need not apply.

Band info: bandcamp || facebook