The wide spread of musical influences is impressive for Brooklyn's TOMBS, plus how they manage to conflate all these in a really solid sound. Imagine a blend that starts from Metal (I'm thinking of SLAYER and ENTOMBED), taking an obvious tincture of inhospitableness by JOY DIVISION, probably a mirror of cold city environment and adding many parts of straight Black Metal. Theoretically speaking, songs like Golden Eyes and Beneath The Toxic Jungle are moving in parallel lines with songs from bands like DEATHSPELL OMEGA, CLANDESTINE BLAZE, DARKTHRONE; especially the last cut, Old Dominion, looks like it was ejected from the cold center of that music. But their sound has more elements. In many moments - a clear example being Story Of A Dream - it is like I'm listening to Dead Man's soundtrack from Neil Young. Some aggressive hardcore influences have been filtered by a BLACK FLAG sound percolator, plus doses from the paranoia of MELVINS or BORIS. The production is very powerful, the guitars fill the whole room any time I listen to Winterhours and the drumming (without being incredible) is offering very special things in majority of the tracks. The rhythmic tantivy of Gossamer is enthralling and well played. The bass is also well played and the thing I wish it could be different is some more expression in the vocals, since they sound a bit standard not having something unique. Here we have a work worth mentioning and, if we consider the irreconcilability of the basic sonic elements, it works well. It is a fact that in these types of bands the results are either bombastic or parodies, but here TOMBS are standing above the average with hopeful future prospects.
Tracklist:
Gossamer Golden Eyes Beneath The Toxic Jungle The Great Silence Story Of A Room The Divide Merrimack Filled With Secrets Seven Stars Of The Angel Of Death Old Dominion
Lineup:
Mike Hill - Guitars/ Vocals Andrew Hernandez - Drums Carson Daniel James - Bass