Album
Type : Full
Length
Date
Released : 10/6/2014
Label
: Relapse
Records
Tombs ‘Savage Gold’ track listing (CD,
DD, LP)
1. Thanatos 04:25
2. Portraits 06:50
3. Seance 05:29
4. Echoes 07:56
5. Deathtripper 06:44
6. Edge of Darkness 05:28
7. Ashes 05:03
8. Legacy 04:18
9. Severed Lives 04:42
10. Spiral 06:17
Bio :
TOMBS’ third
album Savage Gold is the most anticipated underground metal album of
2014. The band’s sophomore LP Path Of Totality unanimously topped 2011
end of the year metal lists (everyone from Decibel to Pitchfork to NPR, and
more, dubbed it their top album of that year). Savage Gold focuses the
awesome strength of Tombs’ previous works into one brilliantly dark post-punk
and extreme black-metal masterpiece. Recorded and produced by Hate
Eternal’s Erik Rutan (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore), Savage Gold both expands
upon the moody post-punk foundations that Tombs’ prior albums explored while
also bringing out the band’s most traditionally metal moments yet. Once
every few years a record comes along that sets a new benchmark for what can be
done in heavy music. This is that moment and this is that record.
The Band :
Mike Hill |
Guitar, Vocals
Andrew Hernandez | Drums
Garett Bussanick | Guitars
Ben Brand | Bass
Andrew Hernandez | Drums
Garett Bussanick | Guitars
Ben Brand | Bass
Review
‘Savage Gold’, the 3rd full length
album from New York
The album opens with “Thanatos” a
relatively bare-bones death metal song. Right away, they've reacquainted me
with lessons about thinking I know what I'm going to get when you first listen
to an album. “Thanatos” starts out by coupling a slower, plodding death metal
riff with some of the fastest drumming you’ll ever hear on a Tombs album. The
riff itself paints a mental image of some forgotten monster movie, with this
riff as its score. The other thing that jumps out immediately is that they went
with a much cleaner sound this time around. The production is more in line with
the Swedish Shining’s "Eerie Cold" album or, more recently,
Vredehammer‘s ‘Vinteroffer’. “Thanatos” probably isn’t the way I would have
started the album because, as far as interest level goes, it never really gets
out of second gear for me.
“Portraits” and “Séance” are excellent
back to back songs, focusing a bit more on sorrowful black metal melodies
combined with the icy tremolo picking of prime Mayhem. They vary things up
nicely on ‘Séance’ by slowing the verse down with a riff that alternates
between sludge and frost supported by a simple but wonderful groove. It’s when
Tombs travels down these roads that they are at their strongest on ‘Savage
Gold’. Unfortunately, things take an unfortunate turn here.
“Echoes” is hampered by some bad vocal
choices early on and flat, everything-all-together blast beats in the middle,
though it comes together nicely by returning to some 'De Mysteriis Dom
Sathanas' style coldness towards the second half of the song. Once
“Deathtripper” begins, the album collapses precisely when it needed something
to put it back on track. The first four-and-a-half minutes are spent on a
frustrating musical treadmill, where a distorted bass line trudges over a plain
drum beat while Mike Hill croaks and moans in as bored a manner as he can
muster. Adding to the obnoxiousness is a heavy distortion layered onto Hill’s
vocals, which just compounds the agony of it all.
Once we escape the ditch the majority
of "Deathtripper" digs us into, the last quarter is actually pretty
engaging, even if it's a little redundant. At this point in the album, I began
to worry about what I was in for. Thankfully, the worst was very much behind me
and “Edge of Darkness” gets the blood pumping again with a track every bit as
fantastic as “Portraits” and “Séance”. The opening moments damn near had me
leaping to my feet with joy after the uneasiness of the previous two songs.
‘Savage Gold’ never really looks back
after that. From that point forward, the album sees Tombs in top form, albeit
with a less atmospheric sound than I might be used to. Even “Severed Lies”,
which explores a similar musical territory to “Deathtripper”, is exponentially
better in composition and execution. Overall, I believe 'Savage Gold' would
have been a fantastic 40 minute album, rather than the mostly great 57 minute
album we have here.
Words by : Daniel Jackson
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