Astral Tomb - Degradation Of Human Consciousness

What we have here is a young death metal trio from Denver, Colorado that attacks the world with its three-song EP "Degradation Of Human Consciousness".

First things first - if you like your metal with good clean production then stay away from this release! Astral Tomb offers dirty and unpolished demo sound but this doesn't mean that it sounds bad. On the contrary the guys have managed to catch a real underground sound that suits well with their kind of doomy death metal.

The three tracks are long and reveal the idea how death metal should sound of three young metalheads (their vocalist/guitar player Michael Schrock is 18 years old!). If you are looking for technical stuff or fast played guitar riffs you will not find anything like that here. Astral Tomb sound simple and straightforward, slow to mid-tempo, without any galloping pace passages or brutal blastbeats. Yes, they sound like a garage band but their music has the spirit of a real underground release.

"Degradation Of Human Consciousness" sounds like a rehearsal tape but if you are sick of the millions of overproduced metal albums then this EP is what you may find interesting. Only time will tell how far can Astral Tomb go but the three songs on this release sound promising!

3 / 5 STARS


1. Devouring Sorrow
2. Transcendental Visions
3. Orbiting Fractals