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TOMB MOLD
The Enduring Spirit

20 Buck Spin (2023)
Rating: 9/10

Returning with their most ambitious opus to date, Toronto, Canada-based death metallers Tomb Mold serve up a plethora of twists and a myriad of turns for what is arguably their best album yet. Strangely, and to add to the mystery, there weren’t many hints that this was dropping, but now it’s here my ear drums are left frazzled and my innards twisted by its progressive fluctuations.

This time round, Tomb Mold leans toward a more expansive soundscape which conjures wistful echoes of Dream Undending in its spiralling vapours and psychedelic plateaus. Shed are the layers of mould and cast off is the stinking, cerebral skin as the Canadian band slips into cleaner, dreamier avenues while still making sure that the sound remains hard and complex. The technicality nods towards Death at their most creative alongside Cynic, and even sprinkles of Gorguts.

It’s still very much Tomb Mold, so the older fans won’t see this departure as too alienating. Instead, this is very much about evolution and anyone feeling uncomfortable with such shifts should crawl back under their rock. With these newer passages each member excels at their trade as tight swerving bass lines frolic with crushing yet dynamic percussive patterns. The axe work remains chunky yet ever-changing; each riff wrapping itself around those guttural vocals as if they were misty, mystical arms.

As with any effort of this calibre and technicality, The Enduring Spirit demands your full focus and attention and only then will its depths unravel before you. The drumming alone is a work of art throughout; intellectual barrages which come in tidal waves alongside the equally staggering cascading riffs which keep this opus meatier than the local abattoir.

The whole opus ripples with a beauty as each segment is expressed with a wholesome yet bewildering serenity and fluidity. Not for one moment has the band sacrificed weight as each track steamrolls like a snow plough, gouging deep furrows into the landscape.

Everything about this magnum opus feels epic, majestic and arrogantly colossal. Just buy the damn thing and marvel as to how the death metal genre has once again embarked upon new horizons while also nodding to its peers. Brilliant, compelling, crushing.

Neil Arnold

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