Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (Review)

This is the fourth album from Canadian death metallers Tomb Mold.

Following on from 2018’s Manor of Infinite Forms and 2019’s Planetary Clairvoyance, comes The Enduring Spirit; 43 minutes of eagerly awaited material from an extremely well-regarded band.

If you’re unfamiliar with Tomb Mold, this is an interesting place to start, as this is not the Tomb Mold we have been familiar with up to this point, at least not completely. I’ll just say by way of a starting point that the promo blurb recommends them for fans of Demilich, Death, Cynic, Convulse, Nile, Demigod, Ulthar, Lunar Chamber, Atheist, Carcass, Watchtower, Obliveon, Undeath, Blood Incantation, Vastum, and Horrendous.

Across The Ensuring Spirit Tomb Mold explore fertile new landscapes in their realm. This record is a mix of the Tomb Mold that’s the recognisable death metal monster you would expect, and a new strain of entity that’s been brought to life via an injection of a virulent progressive mutagen. Although it threatens to consume everything, this new variety of Tomb Mold is held in check by the original’s sense of self, survival skills, and deft songcraft. While Tomb Mold’s new progressive sound might not suit some fans of the band’s previous work, it’s hard to deny what an impressive beast The Enduring Spirit is.

The Enduring Spirit is a work of old-school progressive death metal that’s forged from quality materials. It’s Tomb Mold’s clearest, least dense work yet, offering immersive soundscapes that find the band at their most expansive, welcoming, and immersive. It’s still death metal though, and utterly brutal when it wants to be. At other times though the death metal is entirely abandoned for progressive rock wanderings that would be more than at home on something by Dream Unending, which has clearly had an influence on Tomb Mold’s new direction.

This album consists of myriad ingredients, all brewed together with consummate skill. Tomb Mold deliver the riffs; multitudes of them, of all different shapes and forms. Bright streaks of interdimensional melody are a frequent companion, as the band flex their creative muscles with sinuous ease. There are furious aggressive passages, lubricated with vibrant solos that twist and turn. Doom elements rise up like gargantuan structures that touch the sky. Rich atmospheric depth is cultivated by experienced gardeners that know what they want, and a feast of vast progressive and colourful sounds are the listener’s to savour and devour. All of this comes wrapped in Tomb Mold’s organic death metal framework, and it’s all deliciously served up, hot and spicy.

The Enduring Spirit is Tomb Mold at their most ambitious and evolved. The Tomb Mold of old is dead and gone, replaced with something newly resplendent, with a freshly transfigured and transcendent body.

Essential listening.