Toronto’s Tomb Mold have created the most deepest, twisted and rabidly tunneled rhythmic death metal albums not just in 2018 but the sparking chainsaws and flamethrower blasts of Slaughter and Sacrifice back in the 80’s but the darkest catacombs were sealed until the mid 2000’s. With the limits of extreme metal being pushed nationwide for the last decade groups like Adversarial, Paroxsihzem, Abyss and Thantifaxath entered the 2010’s with greater-honed, transformative skills and somewhere in that same mix festered the aspirations of Tomb Mold’s musical influences. Musically, reminded me of older Dismember as the songs transcended towards a more nuanced Witch Vomit-adjacent sound. Solid songwriting, small portions of technical drumming that venture into thrash metal dominion and guitar solos that match the pace and feeling of the album instill the listener with the feeling of completion and annihilation.
There’s even far greater amount of coherence and harmony in each section of the tracks with the song “Gored Embrace (Confronting Biodegradation)” for instance demonstrates slow tempo changes, Death Doom leads and no structural disillusion when addressing the band’s essential craft. They’ve evolved to play a style of death metal that while retaining the same Finnish influence, has integrated the band’s other influences and identities as musicians to become something all their own.With a Swedish chainsaw buzz to the guitars, dank Finnish production and brutally low vocals, as well as fantastic levels of US-groove to their killer bass lines, it’s got an old school vibe with a fresh and energetic feel making the album’s presentation and atmosphere raw, gritty and downright nasty.
Even the lyrics is what caught my attention since it discusses two recognized video games being Dark Souls and Bloodborne and while they’ve managed to write intelligent material this is without any questions asked one highly enjoyable album start to finish. If you’re into old school death metal and enjoyed the early nineties sound, but the production is decidedly modern Tomb Mold’s Manor Of Infinite Forms is definitely worth the recommendation!
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
Tomb Mold’s album is definitely in my Top 6 or 7 of the year so far. Very solid!