Artist: Scorching Tomb
Country: Canada
Label: Dismal Fate Records
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2022
Canadian Death Metal will mainly evoke associations with the mainly technical flank of the genre, bands like Cryptopsy, Gorguts, the more modern Archspire or maybe even the underrated Neuraxis might come to mind. This Canadian Scorching Tomb, however, should have none of that at all.
These four Canadians take their Death Metal back to the more stripped-down basic form of the genre. Slow, grooving riff-and bass-heavy Death Metal in the vein of Incantation, Grave, Disma or Cianide. All presented to you in an appropriate horror-drenched scenery. The very down-tuned guitars and the guttural vocals do get the leading role in the rather catchy songs. Which delivers a perfect contrast to the rather worn-out cavernous Death Metal of today. The production is also remarkably clean, which enables each instrument to fully contribute, but, at the same time, without taking anything out of the heavy sound of the music. The five songs on this EP clock around 20 minutes and serve up some of the best rancid Old School Death Metal I’ve heard in recent months. No, it’s nothing really special, but ‘Rotting Away’ is played with such conviction and audible passion that it just delivers you a nasty uppercut to get you rocked on silly street. It is impossible not to like this.
