T.O.M.B. — Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy II

What is Black Metal?  Other than the subject must pertain to Satanism in some respect, what exactly are the criteria for giving oneself the Black Metal moniker?  Back when the world was new, it meant that you were diametrically opposed to anything Christian, that you were a loner and an elitist and that you expressed yourself to those only that you deemed worthy.  Musically, it needed to be raw and unmixed, no clean production or name producer.  It had to sound as unrestrained as the subject.

How times have changed, as they always do.  What started out as a philosophical and spiritual (or lack thereof) movement has transformed into just another genre of Heavy Metal.  Yet there are still stalwarts to the original feelings.  In that we can include T.O.M.B.  Hailing from Pennsylvania; the group, which includes many musicians, has here amassed recordings from 1996 – 2006. 

Here within we find low-fi  Black Metal infused with Industrial, EBM and field recordings.  The afore mentioned field recordings take place from Laurel Hill Cemetery, Penhurst State Mental Hospital and the tragic Byberry Mental Hospital.  The musicians are able to create an interesting mix of the previous genres focusing on combining them with excruciatingly painful vocals. Within that they construct a primitive, infernal atmosphere, devoid of the usual Black Metal clichés.  Drums are tribal, vocals are pained and dispirited hymns are added to an already unsettling aura.

In the end it all feels real; the music they create and the backdrop they set for us.  Forget what Black Metal is as of 2010.  This is the pure aural sound of unsettling malevolence, and done extremely well.