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Tombs: Winter hours

10/06/09 || Khlysty

Now, lemme ask you a question: how many times have you met a band that you really cannot pinpoint its sound? You listen to them, a lot of things sound familiar, but the real essence of the band seems maddeningly elusive. You come to their record again and again –hey, it’s pretty compellingly composed and played with flair and conviction!- and you try to deconstruct the songs to their component parts, to see what you’ll come up with. So, let’s see what we can get out of Brooklyn, NYC, Tombs “Winter Hours”, shall we?…

The opening track, “Gossamer”, really reminds me of a more organic, less biomechanical Godflesh, although one can find some doom elements, if not in the sound, at least at the feeling of despair that permeates the song. OK, cool, let’s move on to, where, actually? Well, into an eclectic mix of influences, ranging from pounding fury, yelled vocals, almost Neurosis-y peaks and valleys of sound, hardcore vocals, neither-here-not-there melodies, eruptions of sound, sketches and ideas, passages that would shame even the most hardcore black metal purveyors… Fuck, this thing is so interesting and so varied in its attack, that its 37+ minutes seem so much longer. And, to add onto the massacre, everything here seems so organized and annotated that there were a few moments that I felt as if the band literally tries to be as dehumanized as possible: a Terminator, unstoppable and remorseless.

The reason for the above paragraph is, obviously, that I want to make clear that Tombs is not a one-trick-pony. Their sound is varied, their influences broad and their experimental spirit pretty obvious. Also, the band’s pretty tight and can move from one idea to another with relative ease and without losing any steam. So, what’s the problem? Why am I not raving and drooling over “Winter Hours”? Well, let’s say that, at least to these ears, the songs seem a tad underdeveloped. It’s as if the band wanted to really display their versatility, to fully deploy their arsenal of ideas, so they seem to hurry from one song to the other, without staying long enough to explore the same ideas that seem to possess them.

In an age when 6 to 9 minute songs are not really this scarce in metaldom, Tombs’ longest song is 5:30, with the majority of the tracks never passing the three-and-a-half minute mark. And, while one can argue that length is not a serious variable with which to review songs, with so many ideas and styles touched upon, one cannot but feel that the band expends most of them without really making the most out of this fertility. To put it simply, I would have liked less and longer songs, since I feel that I could easily lose myself within Tombs’ seriously fucked-up world, if I had the time. I don’t suffer from attention deficit syndrome, so I can deal with long songs, especially if they’re this smart and powerful, as the music Tombs offer here, and I don’t think I’m the only one.

This complaint aside, “Winter Hours” is a great record and one that I think will worm its way into many “end-year-best” lists. Tombs is a force to reckon with and I really think that their next offering will put them up with the rest of the modern metal greats. So, guys, keep up the good job of fucking our good spirits with your smart, bitter music. I’m all for you!.

8,5 great ideas that REALLY need expansion out of 10

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Relapse Records
Website: Tombs MySpace
Band
Mike Hill: guitar, vocals
Andrew Hernandez: drums
Carson Daniel James: bass

Tracklist
01. Gossamer
02. Golden Eyes
03. Beneath the Toxic Jungle
04. The Great Silence
05. Story of a Room
06. The Divide
07. Merrimack
08. Filled with Secrets
09. Seven Stars the Angel of Death
10. Old Dominion

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