Album Review: Scorching Tomb - Ossuary
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Scorching Tomb are an act I’ve recently become aware of, having checked out their teased track off their upcoming record, Ossuary. Formed prior to the Covid-19 pandemic out of Quebec, Canada, Scorching Tomb’s first Demo released in 2019 but their first EP, Rotting Away, wouldn’t be out until 2022. The band would have their first Split with Primal Horde a year later, but it’s only now, primed for an October 24th release date, that Scorching Tomb are finally ready to unleash Ossuary upon us all. Releasing the record independently via digital means, physical editions will be handled by Time To Kill Records; I enjoyed what I heard of the teased material for this record and so I am glad to have Ossuary in full. Let’s check it out.
It doesn’t take long for the band’s vocals to play out a significant influence that bleeds into almost every crevice of their songwriting, their very identity: Cannibal Corpse. When one hears these vocals, it’s less acknowledging a particular delivery and rather trying to hold onto your seat as you’re thrust into the back of it due to the sheer intensity being put into this performance. You’ll be aghast at how much air one man can inject into his lungs, only to find he can expel every ounce of it again with these mammoth growls. One can imagine their frontman putting nothing less than his entire mouth and body into his delivery as it’s not a vocal performance one can physically hide. The bodily exertion it must require to pull these vocals off is surely exceptional yet this must easily participate towards an energetic, commanding presence.
The riffs possess no subtlety. They clearly don’t understand the notion of allowing one their own personal space for, once a track begins, you’ll feel the band’s riffs thrown right to your face. The stage may as well be brought to the very corner of the space we are occupying as Scorching Tomb offer zero respite nor chance for escape; once they start there’s no backing out of it until they declare otherwise. In addition the guitar work harnesses this sweeping aesthetic where upon playing a chord, the riff doesn’t dissipate, its power courses through the track, picked up by the next sequence. As a result Scorching Tomb exhibit a rolling momentum akin to landslides as one piece collects another then another, until the back sections come round and the songwriting now dates to hurl mountains your way.
I appreciate Scorching Tomb’s approach to songwriting. Much like the Cannibal Corpse influence, their own songwriting is deeply unconcerned with providing any experience applicable to more nuanced or left-field performances. Ossuary is a record that seeks to kill, kill, kill with every swing of the hammer, with whatever instrument Scorching Tomb find at their disposal. It’s the strength their performance comes down on us too; there’s little padding between ourselves and the band so when their hammering riffs come forth you receive a blunt-force impact. This feels all the more accentuated when one considers the bass thrown into the record too, for even the more minute pieces strike without warning however it’s thankfully not so great that it leans towards a crushing soundscape. Scorching Tomb saw to it their sound could be heard and processed without difficulty and it’s additionally fortuitous that Ossuary doesn’t even eclipse the half-hour mark.
Though Ossuary is a record geared and written towards faster tempos, I love the emphasis the band put towards the slower aspects of their performance. This is old school death metal through and through so audiences know what they’re in for, yet Scorching Tomb do well to mix some variety in, lending tracks some needed alterations in tempo but also atmosphere. The predominantly punching, grievous bodily harm-inducing assault their performance is laced with is sporadically broken up with slower, crawling sections that feel organically written and thus performed. It doesn’t feel like they’re taking a hard right-angle to these changing variations on tempo either, for they’ve written them in such a way they’ve become vital to the overarching structure that respective song possesses.
In conclusion, Scorching Tomb’s debut album is a no-holds barred assault that leaves little to the imagination what the band would like their sound to do to us. Though their songwriting may appears simplified at first glance there’s actually a lot going on to keep their performance continuously invigorating and interesting. The changing tempos, the sweeping power their riffs are imbued with etc Ossuary understands the assignment. It’s runtime hardly pushing thirty minutes lends replayability a definitive factor as one will surely wish to revisit Ossuary again to feel its breakneck impact, knowing the band aren’t tying you down for long. The band may have that Cannibal Corpse essence but as they play you’ll understand they are thoroughly Scorching Tomb and play death metal with zero apathy for your own expectations or desires towards their record; they are in control, not the other way round. Certainly a boiling, seething release.
