T.O.M.B.

T.O.M.B. or Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy has managed to up the stakes of what can qualify as black noise for over 10 years. The group sounds like distorted occultist activities that are taking place within a tomb. So now that we know how truly appropriate their name is one may question how well this record carries said reputation.

The record starts with slowed drums pounding along with a near constant wave of distortion slowly building and fading in tides. this occurs until finally the drums give way to merely a quiet bit of distortion fades out into oblivion. This exercise repeats itself in myriad of different ways for the course of the record. While it would be easy to assume this creates some sense of boredom on the listeners part that would be too easy. the listener is never given a chance to feel comfortable within these songs they consistently reveal layers of dark noise that envelope the listener. |

While the listener is given slight respites from the overall noise one could never claim comfort as there is nothing in the quiet parts other than the feeling of paranoia as to when the next deathly wave will show up. The vocals however they may appear manage to sound like anything from tortured to haunting. This plays well as the music overall could be just as easily described as collage like.

The artwork gives notations of darkened chambers where only occult actions could ever take place. These secret chambers are what you feel surrounded by throughout the record. The artist has managed to make something that seems simple to describe but never sounds simple in itself. This is something to be enjoyed in the dark and alternately afraid of.

8.0 / 10 — Jon E.