Year: 2020
Total Time: 33:04
Label: Season Of Mist
TOMBS is an American Post Metal band from Brooklyn, New York. Their music draws influences from a huge range of sounds from Post-Punk to Black Metal. Now as Post Metal is a misunderstood label, to give you a more precise description of TOMBS’ music, imagine something between the dark melodies of KILLING JOKE, the crushing heaviness of NEUROSIS and the post 00s sonic onslaught of MAYHEM.
“Monarch Of Shadows” finds the band in excellent form. Mike Hill returns with a new line up and he decides to give in to his Black Metal side, giving us 6 impeccable extreme metal compositions.
The EP kicks off with the eponymous track with its atmospheric introduction taken directly from the soundtrack of 80s horror films. The keys give way to guitars and drums, and the band launches its attack. Ripping speeds and tremolo picking riffs accompany the voice of Mike Hill who alternates with ease from screams to clean vocals, on the path carved by the legendary Attila Csihar. TOMBS will complete their gripping opener of a song with a gothic groove, reminding us of the many layers of their music.
“Once Falls Upon The Guillotine” that follows grabs you by the throat with its blackened death metal riff, bringing to mind the recent ANAAL NATHRAKH while “Necro Alchemy” beautifully marries Norwegian Black Metal with a Slam breakdown and a small old school Death Metal guitar solo. In “Man Behind The Sun” the band transitions smoothly from a merciless pounding to an atmospheric Doom Metal second half, accompanied by an eerie piano. The keys and strings we encounter in “The Dark Rift” offer a more majestic atmosphere in the quartet’s post Black Metal touching on briefly more symphonic sounds. The EP ends with a new take on the self-titled song from 2011’s “Path Of Totality” album, which sounds like a completely new track without the muddy, noisy production of the original.
My statement may sound a little heavy, but I have the impression that “Monarchy Of Shadows” is the best work of TOMBS so far. This Black Metal approach with fast tempos, the dipole between grim harsh and semi-operatic vocals as well as the inclusion of slower parts, is spot on. The band sounds fresh and fully inspired, and as much as they don’t play something we’ve never heard before, this dark atrocity they produce is so good that you can but surrender to their “shadowy monarchy”..
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Dimitris Benetatos
Related Link: TOMBS – Official Page
