Tribal Gaze - The Nine Choirs (2022)Release ID: 39759
Do not be fooled by that album artwork fellow academics. It may look like Tribal Gaze should be classified in The Infinite clan but let me assure you that no Hall of Judgement submission is required here folks. Tribal Gaze are death metal through and through and any thoughts of progression can get to fuck as far as The Nine Choirs is concerned. These five Texans make catchy as shit death metal on their debut full-length which I discovered via (yep, you guessed it) Maggot Stomp records, a label that continues to churn out savage, arcane and also memorable and accessible death metal on a consistent basis.
Think of an old school reference such as Morbid Angel then add a blend of more modern reference such as Frozen Soul and you are some way to understanding the kind of death metal that Tribal Gaze play. The riffs are infectious and cutting without ever quite catching 100% of that Swede crunch or being afraid in the albums slower moments to scrape at those sludgier riffs to boot. Vocally they deploy a cavernous death metal gurn that reminds me of Vastum/Acephalix, all sat on a concrete foundation of percussion and a chunky yet subtly mixed bass rumble to underpin it all.
You'll soon pick up their ability to mix it up and change tempo on the head of a pin, unafraid to accentuate the groove in those riffs at the sacrifice of a bit of blasting. Dropping in spoken word snippets and old radio music broadcast excerpts every now and again to emphasise the sarcasm behind their message, Tribal Gaze can let props do their work when they decide to do so. Over thirty-five minutes I just do not stop moving, whether it is exercising my face with a multitude of mindlessly ugly expressions or throwing my arms, head, legs...whatever the fuck can be swung or banged. A triumph for the simple format of death metal song writing, The Nine Choirs needs no frills and dwells not upon the fact that this most certainly been done before. It just does what it does best and I love it.
