Album Review - The Enduring Spirit (Tomb Mold)

The Great Metal Debate Podcast

Welcome back metal heads to another episode of The Great Metal Debate podcast. It's Xander back with a brand new album review. Today, we will be looking at The Enduring Spirit by Canadian death metallers Tomb Mold. I was first introduced to Tomb Mold a few years ago when someone on my Facebook told me to check out their 2018 album Manor of Infinite Forms. I remember enjoying their brand of death metal but at the same time, I never became a huge fan. This new album however might change that for me. I have a friend in the UK who told me the other day that Tomb Mold was releasing a new album so I decided to give it a listen. Needless to say, this band has definitely improved upon their sound. There's obviously a lot more technical and groovy parts in the riffs instead of the dirty and grimey sound I'm used to hearing from these guys. This time around, things seem to be a lot more polished with even some calm moments. A perfect example of this would be at the beginning of the track titled "Will of Whispers''. In fact it reminded me a lot of Rivers Of Nihil's Where Owls Know My Name just a little but then again, there were many other times throughout this record where I got Hooded Menace vibes; so much so that I even went back and listened to one of my favorite 2021 albums The Tritonus Bell. Tomb Mold is a band that has evolved since the previous album which was released right before COVID. This means that the band most likely had a lot of time during lockdown to really brainstorm and write a perfect new album that stands out among the rest in the discography. In my opinion I think this is the best material they have ever created. Derek Vella and Payson Power are both absolute riff machines and provide a gorgeous guitar solo on the track "Fate's Tangled Thread" and of course Kevin Sia rips on the bass. I love how the bass cuts through the music like a knife through warm butter and to make it even more impressive is that the guy is only rocking a 4 string! Usually death metal bands with the techier sound need at least a 5 or 6 string. I mean hell, the band Obscura has a bassist who shreds on an 8 string fretless bass. As I was watching the making of this album I saw that Kevin's 4 string is also fretless. That's awesome! Especially hearing the bassline in "Servants of Possibility". I'm going to be doing a review for the new Autopsy album next month and it got me thinking about how rare it is for the vocalist of a band to also be the drummer. It takes a certain set of skills to be able to pull of those slow cavernous growls while also blasting away at the drums and Max Klebanoff can do exactly that! On the album title closing track which has the full name "The Enduring Spirit of Calamity", the guitar riffs remind me a lot of the middle era of a band like Decrepit Birth. As a fan of that particular style of tech death I can appreciate that. Now the metal-archives doesn't label them as tech death but I feel like it's the direction that this band is going and I can't wait to see what they put out in the future. This album was a breath of fresh air and I can see myself listening to this one a few more times before the end of the year. I have nothing but positive things to say about this one. Let's give it a nice little 8.5 out of 10. It's amazing but at the same time not really my go-to genre yet it deserves some much needed attention and support. You can support Tomb Mold's music by buying their music from either their Bandcamp page or from their record label website 20buckspin.com. Tomb Mold is also available on all streaming platforms.