Tombs - Winter Hours

February 23, 2009

Reviewer: Jesse

It’s always fun to listen to a band that defies a single genre and does it in a way that isn’t confusing and messy.  Tombs’ debut, entitled Winter Hours, is in fact very organized and powerful while harboring plenty of dissonance and noise.  An aggressive and atmospheric display of post-rock intertwined with subtle elements of hardcore, Winter Hours is an intense and calmly heavy release sure to surprise any listener looking to step slightly out of the box.

Ranging from slow, pummeling meander to fast relentlessness, the songs found within Winter Hours never lull the listener into expecting the same thing, yet they don’t contradict each other either.  Some of the lush melodies are beautifully woven into the noisy aura that dominates most of the songs.  “Merrimack” is a great example of this and is probably my favorite track from the album.  A melancholic song that builds a nicely hidden crescendo that you don’t notice much until the end.  “Beneath the Toxic Jungle” could fit the same description only at a much faster pace.  Blast beats and deeper vocals swirl throughout this track.  Just about every track has plenty to offer that one listen is in no way enough to digest them in their entirety.

Instrumentally, this album is a stage.  The bass guitar is as strong and powerful as I’ve heard in a while.  Thick and vibrant and plays off the lead guitar perfectly and sometimes vise versa.  The drumming is disciplined yet comes across as extremely chaotic and intimidating.  Vocally, there’s an impressive amount of anger and pain in his voice which compliments each track perfectly.

One gripe that I do have is that the majority of the songs seem a tad too short.  If they had been able to add a few more minutes to several of them without compromising their integrity or becoming repetitive, then I would be just in complete awe.

Overall, Tombs has some profound ideas and were able to convey them remarkably well on a debut album, but I think that the songs are begging to be unleashed and allowed to expand into something huge; something that will wow anyone who listens.  But for now, Tombs’ infancy stage is far and away more advanced than most would expect.

TRACK LISTING

1. Gossamer
2. Golden Eyes
3. Beneath the Toxic Jungle
4. The Great Silence
5. Story of a Room
6. The Divide
7. Merrimack
8. Filled With Secrets
9. Seven Stars the Angel of Death
10. The Old Dominion

Total playing time: 52:32

Release Date: February 17th, 2009
Label: Relapse Records

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