Surprisingly there is only one metal band I found simply called The Tomb when I was doing some research. There are loads of bands with triple or quadruple barrelled names with tomb in them but not just simply The Tomb which makes the band pretty unique in the scheme of death metal. This Italian band is a duo comprising of Alessio Bucci on guitar and Alessandro Nunziati on vocals, both of whom play or have played in multiple other acts. According to the booklet in the digipak, which is very nice I might add, the bass and drum programming have been done by someone called SK which is about as much as I know at this juncture.

The Tomb play old school death metal, the kind of metal that was being created in the mid to late 80s and honed during the early 90s. This is no frills stuff and for that I commend them as each tune offers a simplistic yet refreshing take on the genre without cloning acts from the genre’s halcyon early days. ‘The Gates Of Suffering’ kicks things off and thrusts you down a gnarly path of caustic riffing tones and primal savagery. I especially appreciated the thundering double kick effect they’ve decided to use which does have an organic tone you wouldn’t ordinarily expect if the drums are programmed.

‘Horror Painted In Your Eyes’ is next as the old school ethos continues with some left and right switching on channels as you listen to the opening riff which is very old school indeed that I really liked, before it plummets into a miasmic deathly sludge. There’s even a thrash touch here and there on the riffing though obviously much denser as the track leads nicely into the more Death inspired ‘In The Twilight’. That Death styling comes courtesy of riffing but also the excellent lead work that is often deployed. Clearly some thought has gone into the solos to make them as effective as possible and not just two or three seconds worth of squealing noise.

‘Entranced By the Smell Of Death’ is a fine number, the snare taps start is slightly discordant as the song hooks into a fine catchy riff base that sends the song down blast beat territories. In today’s global death metal it is extremely difficult to craft something new and whilst The Tomb’s material is sincerely old school to its core they do offer some modernity, particularly when they contort around the tempos and twist around the arrangements to some degree. For some reason when listening to this I had scribbled down Master as a reference point which is true to some extent but the Italians are more complex than the US band as ‘Buried Alive’ proves so definitively. The opening of the tune has some rumbling atmospherics before it erupts into the bombarding style the band prefers. The tune is bouncy too, catchy and quite addictive and contrasts with the blasted start of ‘The House Of Thousand Screams’. Still catchy and hurtling the song at break-neck speed the track personifies the old school death style perfectly.

The closing doublet of ‘Delirium’ and the title track is excellent too, with the former using a fade-in before the expected switch to full death metal that sees Death make another appearance in terms of riffing style and structure. The closing title track has a calmer start, slightly eerie in tone, its creepy intro sequence is abruptly smashed away by the riff that punctures the opening. The added screeching lead break is cool too as the pacing of the track sends it down a more doom-death like persona. At first I thought it was going to be an instrumental as the vocals take some time to come in and do so with a suitably effective roar.

A fine debut album from The Tomb, one that old school death metal fans should be investigating without hesitation as it does everything the genre did back in the late 80s and then some. Excellent stuff indeed.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089694952841

https://greatdanerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-valley-of-despair