Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit

What is life without some hardships to endure?

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on January 25th 2024.) 

I know it’s been a hot minute since it happened, but to this day I still think about how musicians were affected by the pandemic. So many bands either went on hiatus or outright disbanded, and for a good while I thought Tomb Mold was among them. The Canadians were quite industrious up until 2019’s Planetary Clairvoyance, but the moment 2020 came around they went completely radio silent. Mercifully enough, they broke said silence with the Aperture of Body demo in 2022, and a year later we’re graced with their fourth full-length, The Enduring Spirit. Undoubtedly, the title is a declaration in and of itself, marking a bold new direction for the group, one that we had only caught glimpses of until now.
Ever the musical chameleons, Tomb Mold have yet again changed their sound in what is probably the most extreme shift of their career so far. Barring Max Klebanoff’s deep growls the cavernous atmosphere of yore is all but gone, its place taken by what is arguably the trio’s most technical songwriting to date. While there are still plenty of heavy riffs spread throughout the album, as seen on “Angelic Fabrications” and “Flesh As Armour”, there’s a far greater emphasis on technique, whether it’s employed for the sake of dissonance or melody. The opening track is a perfect illustration of that, its drum solo leading into some jagged riff-work, coupled with some harmonies later on. It’s very reminiscent of Death’s Individual Thought Patterns, arguably the blueprint for scatterbrained and clean technical death metal, though the trio manages to make The Enduring Spirit feel like a cohesive work, despite following a similar stream-of-consciousness approach.
Said approach is at its most pronounced during the sweeping 11,5-minute quasi-title track, which runs the gamut through all the things the band showcased during the album’s duration. Slinking bass licks, clean jazzy sections, soaring tremolo riffs, it does it all. Admittedly, it does almost buckle under its own ambition, but the fact that it actually culminates in a pretty grand finale, replete with wildly melodious solos and spacey tremolo passages makes up for it a good amount. It’s a perfect microcosm of the album as a whole, all while taking up a quarter of its runtime. Here one can see both the strengths and weaknesses of that crop up throughout, whether it’s the slightly out-of-place jazzy bits, the density leading to things getting blurry, or the extraordinary bass and lead work, it’s present in spades here.
Nevertheless, I found myself wholly engrossed by The Enduring Spirit, despite its radically different character compared to Tomb Mold’s previous work. It showcases unrestrained ambition, and though the band does get a little swept away at points, the fact that they strive to explore new territory is admirable. Seeing artists you like pushing themselves in a different direction is always a gamble, and in this case it has more than paid off. Regardless of whether one is fully satisfied with the outcome, it’s far better than seeing them recede in a comfort zone.
Highlights: The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura), Angelic Fabrications, Flesh As Armour

Rating: 87% 

  

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