Tombs – Monarchy of Shadows
February 28th, 2020
Black Metal
Season of Mist
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Tombs has what is one of the most interesting genre shifts in the metal mythos, at least to my knowledge. Starting out firmly in the realm of post metal in the vein of bands like Cult of Luna or Neurosis on their first record Winter Hours, the group would eventually transition into the world of black metal. Monarchy of Shadows is the group’s most tried and true black metal release yet, featuring all the hallmarks of a genre that their early sound had only hinted at.
Monarchy of Shadows opens with the title track, the eerie ambiance of which sets the mood for the record with a supremely cold atmosphere. The keys, provided by Fade Kainer, feel as if they’re literally drenched in dry ice, draping icicles around every nook and cranny of the sonic cave that it creates. When the guitars and drums kick in they maintain the frigidity of that mood, with heavy hitting tom triplets and a galloping rhythm in the riff. But once this rather bog standard guitar intro is done with the real deal kicks in. This is fuckin’ black metal, man. Blast beats and menacing tremolo picked guitars thunder along uproariously like a cavalcade of demonic frost-kelpies in a blizzard while vocalist Mike Hill croaks ominously through the mist.
Hill has a decently versatile vocal range on this record, exhibiting two particular styles throughout; one in which he is screaming harshly in typical black metal fashion, the other in which he sings cleanly in what feels like a typical gruff, wise old man voice. I particularly love the way he screams “Apostasy! Apostasy!” during the title track and I find his enunciation very pleasing to the ear in a wicked, diabolical sort of way. The cleans that he utilizes throughout this record accentuate the eerie atmosphere that pervaded the opening track and carries it through the rest of the record whenever it appears.
The guitars on here, as previously mentioned, fall into that category of frostbitten blackness that this genre is known for, though they offer diversity in the form of tempo and transitioning from blistering, Immortal-esque passages into slower meditative segments reminiscent of Gorgoroth. One of my favourite moments is the introductory riff of “Once Falls the Guillotine” which leads into a fantastic, epic, melodic moment in the song’s chorus where one guitar plays a very simple lead over the rhythm guitar which is ravaging the rest of the song. Axeman Evan Void will occasionally transfer into some more deathy territory with their riffage, especially when he harmonizes with himself with multiple guitar tracks, and sometimes they’ll even veer into (gasp, dare I say it) deathcore territory, such as the breakdown in the song “Necro Alchemy” which slows down the longer it plays out.
Drummer Charlie Schmid could easily hold his own in a contest of fast blasters as this album is chock full of blast beats from beginning to end. Some tracks such as the opening duo “Monarchy of Shadows” and “Once Falls the Guillotine” are rapid fire bullet-speed tracks with insanely fast blasting whereas other songs like “Necro Alchemy” contain more standard speed blasting that could even be called more of a scissor beat. Other times Schmid will break into one of my favourite black metal drumming tropes by simply doing the old school heavy metal one-two-one-two beat with rapid fire double bass beneath, hearkening back to the good old days of Judas Priest’s Painkiller.
While I feel that this album is generally good and a quality black metal release I can’t deny that I do feel bored throughout it’s runtime, particularly once the track “Man Behind the Sun” hits. For some reason the first three songs really get me excited for the record but once the fourth track hits I just start losing interest and want it to be over. This also explains why even though this record is just 35 minutes long I often feel like it lasts for closer to an hour. The second half of this record simply loses me. It’s unfortunate because it’s not like these songs are particularly bad in any sense and I do genuinely enjoy some good, slow, meditative black metal like I mentioned above (my favourite Gorogorth song will always be “Sign of an Open Eye”), but they fail to capture my attention.
That’s not to say that this part of the record is indeed bad in any sense. For example, “The Dark Rift” contains some very interesting, eerie, orchestral synthesizers that add a unique texture to that track while “Path of Totality (Midnight Sun)” has some genuinely catchy riffing going on throughout its runtime. Perhaps if the band had simply omitted “Man Behind the Sun” and released Monarchy of Shadows as an EP this might have been a more captivating release.
While Monarchy of Shadows has a great opening with three kickass black metal tracks slugging you in the face right out of the gate with their ferocious intensity, and the album is marred by a less engaging second half, I still feel like this is a worthy entry into the Tombs discography. The cacophony of sounds on this record are unique within the genre of black metal as Tombs manage to take an old and overused formula and add that special touch to make it a sound all of their own. If nothing else you should check out this record just for its first half alone.
Final Verdict: 6/10
Good
Favourite Tracks:
“Monarchy of Shadows”
“Once Falls the Guillotine”
“Necro Alchemy”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 