Review by Sonny for Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit (2023)

I really enjoyed Tomb Mold's previous album, 2019's Planetary Clairvoyance. TM have evolved their sound even further since that album, branching out in a more technical and progressive direction, even dabbling with the ever more fashionable sorties into jazz metal territory. Whilst I understand and respect the band's desire to evolve and challenge themselves in both songwriting and technical expertise, it doesn't necessarily mean that I am fully on board with it. I have never made any secret of my lack of enthusiasm for the more technical style of metal and as for jazz, it generally has very little to do with me and is something I tend to keep at arms length. That said, the basis of TM's sound is very much in line with my preference for old-school, cavernous death metal and as such enables me to give them the benefit of the doubt. As I am exposed to repeated runthroughs, The Enduring Spirit is beginning to win me over, using the OSDM sound as a handhold I am finally coming to grips with Tomb Mold's continuing refinement of their direction.

In truth most of the evolution on the album is not as jarring as I first thought and is limited to some technical flourishes in the riffing and overall guitar work with the songwriting moving in a more progressive direction rather than a technical one, the band never going full-on Gorguts, which I am thankful for. Will of Whispers is the track I struggle with the most as the smooth jazz-like tone it employs in places is so at odds with the band's death metal roots and my own personal preferences, especially when the growling vocals are performed over the jazz sections (from around the four-minute mark), that it just sounds "wrong" to my ears. More generally, though, the technicality adds some spice to the riffing and battery that is the band's core sound, the technical aspect of the riffing on Fate's Tangled Thread, for example, gives an extra kick to what is actually already a bit of a killer and the more expansive and adventurous soloing in the latter half of the track is most definitely a cool direction to take it in. Tomb Mold almost seem like what would have happened if Autopsy had followed Death's career trajectory.

I think that for me the major takeaway from The Enduring Spirit is that this is not an album that deserves a rush judgement, it reveals more with every listen and I am definitely thawing to what I think the band is trying to achieve here. Most importantly, it still retains the ability to kick ass, no matter what it's technical or progressive intentions and that will always carry a metal album a long way with me.