The Tomb - The Valley Of Despair

The Tomb recently formed from Italy back in 2022, and “The Valley Of Despair” is their first full length album. Paying tribute to the ‘Old School Death Metal’ route with a mix of Obituary meets a ton of Death, this duo crank out tasteful Thrash tinged Death Metal that shows no mercy, but quite a bit of excellent chops in riffs and even bass work. Avoiding overall aggression from blast beats, the guitars from Alessio Bucci on a track like the opening ‘The Gates Of Suffering’ are fast, but accessible in that sweet spot between fast and mid paced so it doesn’t sound like one is trying to get bowled over by the force like one feels when they hear something from a band like Vitriol, and when the solos come in they are tasteful and melodic (hence the Death styled influence). Drums and bass from SK who is a guest on the album keeps right up with everything thanks to his production, and even though vocalist Alessandro Nunziati sounds a little pushed back, he can still be heard clearly in his roars. The groove factor is also highly present especially when hearing a track like ‘Horror Painted In Your Eyes,’ another later ‘Death’ inspired piece from “Human” or “The Sound Of Perseverence.”

Supposed Death worship aside, The Tomb comes more into its own later on the album. There is every a bit of Tech Death Beyond Creation sounding tracks like ‘The House of Thousand Screams.’ The melody levels are upped and the opening riffs are certainly catchy, almost Slayer inspired Thrash with its rather slow, grating chug as the track lumbers along, yet when it gets faster that is where one can hear the more Tech Death bits though it isn’t as grandiose as something from Necrophagist or Archspire. ‘Delerium’ is where the band gets a little faster and more in the ‘general Death Metal’ category as they try to shed the melody and jarring progressive elements that Death did so well, but the same time in doing this, the tracks doesn’t grab as much from the listener to demand attention, especially with the click from the drums amongst the pounding riffs until the bridge of the song comes in with some more melody. The closing title track also delves a bit into almost Doom territory with its more foreboding touches, but then falls again back into the more Death sounding territory as the band sticks with the familiar territory it already traversed.

“The Valley Of Despair” sounds like it could be more though. It is good and already offers plenty than your average meat and potato Death Metal album that tries to emulate that of Cannibal Corpse or Nile with its fast, guttural approach; one could say that The Tomb are a good ‘intro’ band for those trying to get into Death Metal based upon the levels of pace and the way the riffs/ solos are structured in a more melodic fashion that draws influence from anywhere to Thrash to Death Metal to Heavy Metal. As said before, the Death influence cannot be understated, and while it does give the band some oomph at the same time it feels like a crutch that hindered them from exploring more of what makes The Tomb well… The Tomb. A tight 29 minutes of ripping, enjoying Death Metal will leave most fans pleased and impressed, especially in the guitar department, but with so many other bands out there adding more depth and power to their music through simple variation of tracks, listeners will probably give this album a single spin and then move on to the next thing. “The Valley Of Despair” is a good stepping stone for The Tomb to take that next leap into deeper waters and evolve their Death Metal approach to something more unique.

3 / 5 STARS