Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit

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Toronto-based death metal outfit Tomb Mold finds its niche with the surprising release of the fourth album “The Enduring Spirit” which was digitally released on September 15th, 2023 out of nowhere. The physical copies are slated for release date on October 13th via 20 Buck Spin. Now evolving into a high-tech Sci-Fi kind of death metal, Tomb Mold’s fourth chapter seems to be the second attempt to navigate further into the realms of cosmic space.

Setting the work of art into motion, Tomb Mold expands the scope of songwriting and demonstrates the technical aspects of complex riffing to create a very organic piece of death metal. Thanks to the creative skills of the guitarist’s Derrick Vella and Payson Power for capturing every detail of the vivid lead work, with intricate portrayals of riffs shooting like falling stars and flamboyant melodies offering spectacular moments in the opening track “The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura)”. The lead guitars on this album are stylish reflecting the virtuoso talents and uncovering tons of sonic layers, and within the seven tracks vocalist and drummer Max Klebanoff offers a backbone to the rapid riffing.

The Enduring Spirit” is meticulously refined by remarkable craftsmanship, the cavernous growls and the blast beats are perfectly layered in the following track “Angelic Fabrications” uncovering the role of the drums in achieving high-velocity tempos. While there are tons of memorable riffs and exhilarating lead guitar hooks, the quality here is top-notch. The pacing of the drums is just incredible, and it is often meshing with the chugging guitars.

Tomb Mold’s perceptive take on death metal has gone through different phases that have been modulated and refined over the years. The guitars in the album steer the drums through fast tempos and constantly changing, but the multifaceted riffs showcase impressive agility and progression in the track “Will of Whispers”. They have an outstanding penchant for infusing memorable hooks into, pushing through the outer limits of their composition. The rhythm guitar is sly and multilayered, with the guitar solos offsets and exhilarating in a spectrum of colors and lights and adding tons of memorability to the mix.

Tomb Mold infuses a broad array of technical elements, oftentimes the bass guitar and the drums sound unconventional and modern. Guitarist and bassist Derrick Vella incorporates elements from his atmospheric doom/death side project Dream Unending, and they are emphasized in several songs. The band has imbued progressive death metal ingredients, with the cavernous growls feeling just right. The vocals’ tone is a bit buried in the mix, but it sounds just fine to me. Not to mention the inclusion of the bass guitar. “The Enduring Spirit” crosses the boundaries of Tomb Mold’s previous albums. The atmospheric touch is quite evident, and the band maintains a focused level of visceral performance by seamlessly utilizing funky bass guitar lines, grooves, and heavy chugging sections with its elegant guitar melodies dazzling you with their technicality.

While “Fate’s Tangled Thread” kicks off with a high riffing technicality and a tempo that varies from grooves, each guitar solo segment creates beautiful textures and peculiar riffing twists. There’s just no ending to the guitar solos as they slither smoothly through a cascade of heavy chugging, and there is so much more to the rhythm guitar sections the guitar solos exude inspirations from classic blues and rock music. Tomb Mold hasn’t forgotten its cavernous death metal roots, and despite the songs having an average length of four to five minutes, they’re loaded with heavy chugging riffs.

Tomb Mold on its fourth album simply shows off complex musical traits that are extraordinary, the technical/progressive sensibilities resulted in a unique and ornate piece of death metal. The fine drumming work on the “Servants of Possibility” is packed full of scorching riff-craft work, and the drumming patterns are worth mentioning. Tomb Mold shows clear signs of when to bash the listener with a concrete slab of old-school death metal. Riffs on the album are profusely unleashed in a beautiful fluidity, though most of the album’s pacing is steeped in the progressive elements of death metal the songs are steered through solid mid-paced.

The eleventh-minute closure “The Enduring Spirit of Calamity” invites you into the band’s songwriting insights. The guitar work is heavily textured as there are tons of hooks memorable guitar riffs and blast beats masterfully achieved by the drummer Max Klebanoff. The lead guitar arpeggios provide some respite moments and strumming beautiful melodic chords. The track becomes a tour de force akin to Dream Unending and pulling out some dramatic guitar effects from the solos that every aspect of this stylistic piece is showcased.

REVIEW SCORE

  • Music / Songwriting 8/10
  • Vocals / Lyrics 9/10
  • Mix / Production 10/10
  • Artwork & Packaging 8/10
  • Originality 9/10
8.8

Tomb Mold’s fourth album “The Enduring Spirit” sublimely enters the portals of cosmic space and explores the sonic depth of the band in a new direction via the route of technical/progressive death metal.

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