(NCS supporter Black Shuck answered our call for guest posts with the following review of the debut EP by Tombstalker from Lexington, Kentucky.)
Hello, boys and ghouls. You may or may not remember, but a year or so ago I wrote a little piece on bands from Kentucky. One of those bands was named Tombstalker, and I’ll be reviewing their self-titled EP for you today. So sit back, relax, and enjoy as I fling my poo at the keyboard, much like the noble chimpanzee, and call it writing.
I included a stream of the EP in last year’s write-up, so if you listened to that you’ll have some idea going in of what this band sounds like. If you didn’t listen, or if too many nights sitting at home drinking to forget have erased most of your long-term memory, this will be a somewhat more in-depth look at the record.
Tombstalker are a mix of extreme metal and hardcore punk, describing themselves as “hammer crushing death crust.” While Anton Escobar’s vocals run mid- to low-range, which could be indicative of death metal influence, the EP has much more of a black metal feel to me. I mentioned their “grimy” atmosphere in the earlier piece on them, and coming back to this record a year later, that is still a large part of what makes it for me. The production is suitably low-fi; while not quite as stripped down as, say, early Darkthrone, it still doesn’t really look like they bothered with any sort of sleekness or polish, which is absolutely a strength of the album. Continue reading »
