T.O,M.B. — Pennhurst/Xesse

Crucial Blast brings us the rerelease of T.O.M.B’s 2009 limited album Pennhurst along with their 12” Xesse.  Together it represents a rare collection of black ambient industrial noise.  Material for Pennhurst was recorded at Pennhurst State and Norristown State Hospitals, both were (and in Norristown State Hospitals situation, still open) notorious mental institutions that unfortunately didn’t always protect those who desperately needed it. 

Before diving into the rerelease, a little history about the places named above.  I can share my own observations with you dear reader, as I was born and raised and lived half of my life about 10 minutes from the imposing Norristown State Hospital.  The reputation was one of well documented experimental surgeries and lax security.  From my one and only time inside the hospital I can tell you it was not a happy place and even 35 plus years ago the air there had a decidedly sinister and despondent aura.  Pennhurst opened in 1903 as a hospital for the feeble-minded and the epileptic.  Pennhurst too was rife with hushed whispers of patient abuses and eventually resulted in the first lawsuit of its kind in the U.S., a class action suit from a former patient against the hospital.  The charges were that the conditions at the hospital were inhumane, unsanitary, cruel and dangerous, the hospital closed in 1987.  A documentary from the 60’s exists called “Suffer the Little Children” exposing the abuses occurring at the institution.

Pennhurst begins with “Primevil Sorcery”, a tense mechanical sounding din with distant screams and howling echoes gives us a frightening start.   The sounds of slamming heavy doors give way to the feeling of being thrust into chaos.  “Maz Ov Tha Damd” jump starts with pounding drums in an incredible avalanche of static, wails and screams; very claustrophobic emotionally that culminates to a whisper.  “Goetic Xaos” features a swirling tone combined with metallic screeching.  It is painfully grating and anxiety inducing.  We receive a slight reprieve only to be re immersed in the cold shrieking machinations.  The overall effect is relentless fear, never knowing when the next fearsome sound is coming from.  “Audi Alteram Partem” is a short piece, moaning and operatic wailing lilt above cavernous echoes, and in the end find a mournful and desolate beauty.  “Pennhurst” rounds things out with the same wailing as in “Audi Alteram Partem”, but this swiftly drones into mechanical gears and raspy noise; a continuation of the never ending chaos and emptiness.

“Xesse”, starts off the rerelease of the Xesse 12”, with howling winds and disembodied moans.  “Silence Is Suffering” sounds like reverberating bass notes with hidden whispering underneath.  Heavy effected vocals punctuate the word “suffering” which lends to quite a chilling effect.  “Within The Circle of Bones” is a wind tunnel of blustery sounds more like an ambient sound that towards the end dissipates into a high pitched note.  “The Inhuman Condition” again continues the ambient tones and whispered vocals.  “The Luciferian Homage” is the last song, sputtering with intermittent grating sounds and wailing voices; a pounding, noisy embrace of ghostly suffering and coldness.  Like Pennhurst, Xesse includes field recordings from Essex County Hospital and Hellertown Union Cemetery.

Just to touch on the artwork, it is a six panel digi-pak with a creepy collage of the fore mentioned hospitals layered with T.O.M.B. logo and goat skull.  A bit clichéd, sure, but it works. While the rerelease is first rate in sound and artwork, it does feel a bit disjointed.  That may have been deterred if the Xesse half of the album preceded the Pennhurst half.  Xesse has a much more ambient/drone sound to it; that after the unsettling paranoia of Pennhurst falls a bit flat.