ALBUM REVIEW: Tomb Mold, "Manor of Infinite Forms"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:08/06/2018

Label: 20 Buck Spin

“…through sheer inertia and boundless enthusiasm, Tomb Mold have gone from impressive acolytes to new standard bearers in death metal.”

“Manor of Infinite Forms” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Manor of Infinite Forms

2. Blood Mirror

3. Abysswalker

4. Final Struggle of Selves

5. Gored Embrace (Confronting Biodegredation)

6. Chamber of Sacred Ootheca

7. Two Worlds Become One

The Review:

If past years have been hallmarks for North Amercianblack metal, North American doom, North American sludge and the various permutations, 2018 may be a new high water mark for underground North American Death Metal.  While the stalwarts of the genre have bounced back some in recent years, the current class of death metal freshmen have been conjuring albums that are among the best the genre has ever unleashed.  Genocide Pact, Gatecreeper, and Of Feather and Bone are putting out some of the balls to the wall best metal in the US of rotten A, while Canada’s Tomb Mold has, with “Manor of Infinite Forms”, crafted a contender for personal favorite of 2018.  Indebted to genre legends but forging its own unholy amalgam of complex riffs and memorable hooks, Tomb Mold have a massive slab with their second full-length and debut on 20 Buck Spin.

Primary songwriter and guitarist Derrick Vella loads the title track with snaky, infectious leads.  Drummer/vocalist Max Klebanoff pulls off remarkable kitwork that runs the gamut from headspinning blasts to punky gallops, with some remarkable fills thrown in for good measure.  While Tomb Mold borders on progressive death metal, and the leads have a refreshing level of clarity (shred worshipers will have two new icons with Vella and second guitarist Payson Power), there is a stomach churning element of crusty decay seeping through the shimmering technical prowess.  When the bridge of “Blood Mirror” slows to a crawl, then gradually ratchets back to midtempo bashing, it’s pure Neanderthal magic. “Final Struggle of Selves” is a perfect martial anthem for the ignorant orcs out there, with a solid, dirty bassline that highlights the sonic balance the quartet has mastered: high leads anchored by thick low end.

Can I mention the remarkable storytelling on display here?  Because Tomb Mold’s wicked lyrical descriptions are cosmic horror that I generally have to turn to Lovecraft or Ligotti or Kiernan to approximate.  The denizens of the Tomb Mold universe inhabit dead planets, unholy underworld dominions, infected by unimaginable decay and contemplating sheer nihilistic terrors.  “Chamber of Sacred Ootheca”, a vicious chugging assault loaded with chaotic guitar work, also has some truly harrowing imagery: “Harness the cosmos from within / This hidden planet / Awaken / Reanimate the remaining petrified / Realign the signals / Usher in the age of universal torment / Hear the calls”.  Klebanoff’s vocal placement in the mix is perfect – just distant enough to be eerie, but also intelligible (with a lyric sheet firmly in hand anyway).  Album closer “Two Worlds Become One” acts as a perfect apotheosis for the Canadian wizards.  Vella displays his prog bona fides with a haunting classical guitar intro, before delving into a nightmare tale of demonic ascension.  Vella and Power craft sinister harmonies, Musgrave lays out precise bass work, and Klebanoff’s maniac drumming and curdled screams elevate the 8 minute closer to genuine epic status. 

It’s hard to describe why it all works so well.  There are homages to Finnish death metal (like the weird, wonderful Demilich) running through Tomb Mold’s oeuvre, as well as a general obsession with horror fantasy imagery that is fully realized and rarely cliché.  What I’ve gathered from Tomb Moldis total sincerity – these guys put out tons of songs in two short years because they are in love with this brutal, old school, gnarly, weirdly catchy riff-oriented metal.  It shows on all their prior releases.  But with “Manor of Infinite Forms” they’ve broken through to a new level.  Maybe it’s the addition of Power and Musgrave on their first full-length (all work prior to “Cryptic Transmissions” was recorded as a two-piece).  Maybe it’s the step up in production.  But I think it’s also that through sheer inertia and boundless enthusiasm, Tomb Mold have gone from impressive acolytes to new standard bearers in death metal.  With the pace of their output and the abundance of riffs they seem to have on hand, there is a wide, dark universe these guys can explore for decades to come.  I think, somehow, this is only the first phase of a stellar discography.

“Manor of Infinite Forms” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Of Feather And Bone, "Bestial Hymns of Perversion"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: March 23, 2018

Label: Profound Lore Records

It’s a stellar record, one that cuts deep and infects your blood supply.  I suggest you subject yourself to this trauma and damn the consequences.

“Bestial Hymns of Perversion”CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Repulsive Obscurity

2. Resounding from the Depths

3. Lust for Torment

4. Mockery of the Ascension

5. Hymn of Perversion

6. Pious Abnormality

7. Throne of the Serpent

The Review:

               

There are a few tried and true methods when it comes to hair-raising metal album intros.  Some really solid menacing spoken word, particularly religious insanity culled from a crackling radio transmission.  The patented horror movie sample of practically any Mortician song.  So when I heard demonic chanting and what can only be described as the buzz of carrion flies, I knew I was in for some relentlessly grim death metal.  I did not expect, however, that with “Bestial Hymns of Perversion”, I’d be wading into a grim, necrotic nightmare that may also be one of the best releases of the year.  With their second full-length, Of Feather and Bonehave completely reinvented themselves as one of the most devastating death acts operating today.

               

Aforementioned opener “Repulsive Obscurity”, after the descent into sonic madness of the intro, centers on drummer PW’s double-kick assault.  This is tribal warfare music, not tech wizardry – every hit sounds like it’s rattling against bloodied skins, reverberating through a chasm of evil.  The thick, fuzzy tone of DG’s guitar is pure filth, without ever losing the discernable, disturbing riffing.  AS’s bass is much more subdued but essential, a clean counter to the buzzing fury of the six-string assault.  Meanwhile, AS and DG counter guttural death growls with agonized, frayed higher register shrieks.  The combination is particularly unnerving.  Which isn’t to suggest its pure cacophony – tracks like “Resounding from the Depths” have an oldschool punky rhythm break that bely the trio’s earlier hardcore roots.

               

“Lust for Torment” may be the standout track for me on a record without a moment of filler.  The breakdown, punctuated by cracking snare work, frenetic fills, and pinch harmonics that will make you scream “fuck!” while you’re sitting all alone in traffic, is one of the most enervating musical moments of my year.  Plus the mid-song crescendo is the type of chugging riffing that mosh pits were made for.  The tortured high end vocals of “Mockery of the Ascension” are almost too distressing after such brutality, but Of Feather and Bone is not here for your weak bullshit.  Instead the tribal rhythms coalesce again, around a blissfully simple guitar line.  The minimal, tremolo lead work is as effective as any sweep picking, and far more memorable.

“Hymn of Perversion” is a testament to how aware Of Feather and Bone is of the power of space – sometimes they allow room to breathe, only to collapse back in with so much intensity that you may suffocate.  And throughout all this chaos, the production is never muddied, never too busy, always unflinching in capturing the relentless assaults on display.  When PW blisters his snare with furious blast beats on “Pious Abnormality”, not one hit is lost – no mean feat when the distortion is so primal.  “Throne of the Serpent” closes as the album began – with sheer, unmitigated power.  DG and AS weave a sinewy, descending guitar riff that is beyond sinister – it’s downright malevolent.  With tradeoffs between chugging rhythms and high-end tremolo, slowed down tribal drums and breakneck blast beats, the closer builds to a nauseating expulsion of raw energy, before dissipating in another cloud of buzzing flies.

It’s hard to express just how grim and powerful the whole experience of “Bestial Hymns of Perversion” is.  It stuck to me like a layer of grime you really need to scour yourself to get off.  Even when I felt unburdened from the filthy tones and punishing rhythms, I had to go back, re-traumatize myself, and contemplate just what was so unsettling and compelling about the whole thing.  For one, it’s a major departure from their frenzied, punky debut, “Embrace the Wretched Flesh”.  There’s far more skill, more despair, more wrathful intensity.  But there’s something ineffable about the primal necromancy these guys dredge up for “Bestial Hymns…”.  It’s a stellar record, one that cuts deep and infects your blood supply.  I’m likely to keep returning all year, like the scene of an atrocity I can’t erase from my memory.  I suggest you subject yourself to this trauma and damn the consequences.

“Bestial Hymns of Perversion” is available here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp