Tombs – Savage Gold (2014)

Unleashing their third full-length release, today we have Mike Hill’s Tombs and their crushing multi-faceted album “Savage Gold”. As one of the most unique and complex bands in the US Metal scene, Tombs crafts ten demoralizing songs that brilliantly combine Black Metal influences with Neurosis-like Post-Metal/Hardcore antics. Featuring a very interesting album concept, this release has everything going for it in terms of musical quality, production values, and high replay value; this is one of the best releases we have heard in a while from Relapse Records.

Opening with a trippy atmospheric intro in “Thanatos”, this album suddenly morphs into a nightmarish Swedish Death Metal meets Hardcore/Post-Metal screaming match in a very odd but yet unique and devastating manner. The riffs are pummeling, particularly when they switch into full-on Black Metal mode. The band instantly delivers their unique brand of weirdness and we love it. “Portals” follows a similar path of attack than the opener, but the first truly outstanding song is the throbbing “Seance”. This song features some of the most vicious riffs written in the last few months and Tombs deserves recognition for it…. quickly.

Trying out some mournful clean vocals on “Echos” and “Deathripper”, the band never stops keeping the listener guessing what they will do next. The moment you think things can’t get any better, we have “Edge of Darkness”, “Legacy”, and “Ashes”, rolling in as a bag of bricks to the face. The trippy experimental “Severed Lives” is one of the songs that appealed to us as the most experimental and ‘out of place’ song in the album. Just before kissing people good night, “Spiral” delivers another high octane dosage of tight drumming and sawing guitars.

Overall, “Savage Gold” is a very solid and promising release featuring 10 unique tracks. If you like your Post/Experimental Metal with an escalated level of refined Black Metal elements, this release will blow you away. Not many bands are as unique as Tombs and in this release they greatly highlight all those elements. This is surely one of the best releases of 2014, and you should definitely check it out.

Label: Relapse Records

Release: June 10th, 2014

Genre: Metal

Country: USA