Under the Earth’s crust exists a swirling vortex of white hot magma which constantly heaves and churns and occasionally wreaks the most combustible and vitriolic natural havoc known to man. Under that is a dual layer of solid, blistering metal. What heaves and agitates beneath our feet on a daily basis is a visual and virtual nightmare of epic proportions and if it had a soundtrack it would sound something like the debut album from Connecticut’s Tomb and Thirst.
Some bands say they defy conventional descriptors, other bands actually do it. With several years of gigging and being involved on various levels in a myriad of other heavy musical projects, the Tomb and Thirst trio bring a wide array of influences to the table, of which they are more than happy to take and blend together into a near poisonous brew. Grindcore, doom metal, crust, punk rock, improvisational drone/ambient music, even snippets snatched from as far away as black metal,death metal, and thrash are all dumped into a mass grave and covered over with a sheen of lo-fi, gritty production to produce an album that is simply beyond brutal at certain turns.
Wrath is a fitting moniker for this album as Tomb and Thirst spew extreme anger and venomous barbs in fits and starts. The album begins with two crusty, grinding blasts of spiteful abandon “Blood Eagle” and “Lung.” The grindcore moments are sprinkled throughout this album on tracks like “Logic” and “Precipice” which both clock in well under the minute mark. Like that violently shuddering, molten display beneath our feet there are moments of brief respite amongst the madness, but respite in both cases simply indicates a more pained expression of angst than anything else. The sludge-fueled grimness of “Death Dealer” has the look and feel of something that crawled forth from the Louisiana swamps on a moonless night before breaking down into feedback-induced disarray, only to gain its feet and continue to trudge towards the local hamlet to rape and pillage. Meanwhile the album-closing title track is 14 minutes of aural Armageddon, replete with nightmarish and esoteric ambiance, which after ten minutes, gives way pounding drums and atonal guitar and bass rumblings. It’s a fitting closing to an album that worked so hard for ten prior tracks to lacerate eardrums with deathly precision.
It has been hypothesized by many cultures, and there is growing empirical evidence to support, that the Earth may one day turn on us, open up and swallow us whole. If that doomsday scenario were to play itself out then a copy of Wrath should be nearby for the ride to Hell. Wrath will be released via Safety Meeting Records and you can currently stream the beast in its entirety over at Cvlt Nation.
