Soulgazer

Astral Tomb presents itself as a proggy space-themed death metal outfit, so naturally, I had to check them out. Even though that specific thematic niche has grown these past years amidst other satellite aesthetics within the realm of death metal, it still comprises a limited array of bands. However, I must admit I was disappointed by the band’s debuting LP, even though I wasn’t expecting the second coming of Blood Incantation (themselves being the second coming of The Chasm), but certainly not something as far apart in terms of quality and personality as I encountered here. Sure, these guys are quite young still, with frontman Michael Schrock just a few months past his 19th birthday. I foresee great potential if he carries on with his musical career in the coming years. The thing is, he’s not there yet, and neither are his bandmates. The musicianship is solid, and though they have some interesting ideas, they’re still a long way from developing good songwriting skills. Soulgazer is more like potential gazing into the what could one day be, but it remains a distant galaxy away at the present moment.

Humongous opener “Transcendental Visions” is a rather tedious near 13-minute exercise in mid to slow-paced death metal, with dull riffs repeated too many goddamned times. The first minute is among its most satisfying, with some mid-speed blastbeats and a fulfilling crunchy tone for the guitars. Some chaotic guitar solos appear later, but after the 2-minute mark the song enters total-plodding mode. Around the 6:20 mark an echoing chanted intermezzo starts within the song, providing some welcomed respite from the monotony. That section starts to… melt away, as more chaotic soloing ensues around the 7:40 mark, as the greyish death metal returns. A minute later, then comes a more interesting section with solid tremolo melodies, which kind of reclaims some of the quality the intro of the composition manifested. However, the constant (d)evolution of the track doesn’t allow any good moment to linger too much. The drums are constantly doing fills and accents while maintaining its monotonic tempo, while the simple riffs change marginally in sound here and there, but none are particularly impactful. Shrock’s vocals are the expected cookie monster grunts and gurgles, peppered with some reverb, functional but nothing special either.

The opener, the initial third of the album’s total length, then merges into a four-and-a-half ambient instrumental titled “Be Here Now…” which isn’t entirely disposable, but ends up being around 60% overlong as well. Track no. 3, “Inertia” is the one I deem the most accomplished composition here, providing much needed aggression and higher use of dynamics. Despite itself being 8 minutes in length, the changing of pace and distinct sections feel better constructed. I like the tech deathrash riffs around the 5-minute mark, as the song appears to be about to soar unto even higher quality, but after 30 seconds of build up the band opts to dissolve it into a softer space jazzy progression. Not a bad choice per se, as it remains stimulating, but I was led to believe something better was coming. There are hints of Suffocation throughout the song, when the bands amps up the brutality. Unfortunately, those mid-paced dismal moments keep coming. The final eleven minutes of Soulgazer comprised by “Traversing the Wandering Star” and “Ascending a Pillar of Light” continue to mix all those past elements with, well, mixed results. The first couple of minutes from the former song recall Vangelis’ (may he Rest In Power) famed Blade Runner OST, before the transformation into death metal for the rest of its duration, again, combining pure drudgery with some moments of note. The closer is a pure death number with the expected up and down sectioned conformation.

The production values are suitable and balanced, with the death metal sounding gritty and the atmospheric parts ascending with appropriate cleanliness, all encased by a thin layer of reverb. The cover artwork is not the expected, and I applaud the band for adding some intrigue as how they would sound with their aesthetic. Even though there’s planet sized-room for improvement here musically, I concede these guys have their moments. I hope they hone in their abilities, especially those in the composition department, and will definitely check out their future material, but for the time being Soulgazer doesn’t warrant more consideration than a curious but clearly flawed debut.

Denver’s death metal upstarts Astral Tomb land their debut this March with an album well tailored to fit Blood Harvest’s current roster of future minded metal. ‘Soulgazer’ is a bizarre reflecting pool of death metal’s oddly tangential recent history. Looking at their contribution to the ‘Chasm of Aeons’ split in 2020, Astral Tomb have apparently been inspired by the current trend for Timeghoul worship but couldn’t help but develop a voice of their own in the process. ‘Soulgazer’ looks like an attempt by Astral Tomb to write their own version of ‘Hidden History of the Human Race’, making this album a copy at least twice removed from the original source material.

But there’s something to the over-excited enthusiasm rampant across this album that makes it oddly compelling, it may be a twice removed copy of a copy, but that does not make it twice as bad by any measure. It should also be noted that Astral Tomb are revoltingly young. About the same age, in fact, that many of death metal’s old guard were when they started cranking out demos in the mid-1980s. And just like death metal’s old guard, Astral Tomb’s approach is an interesting concoction of imitation and brash disregard for agreed norms that makes youthful contributions to music scenes such a vital component of their longevity

Structurally and thematically there’s no getting away from the Blood Incantation comparison. Astral Tomb attempt to whip up a similar concoction of ‘Obscura’ style percussive riffing alongside clean breakdowns with off kilter arpeggios and soaring, spacey lead harmonies. Vocals are equally guttural and reverb drenched, working more as low-end sirens than an entity with rhythmic potential for the most part. The production is a little on the lo-fi side by modern death metal standards, but there’s still clarity and clout aplenty for listeners to sink their teeth into.

But where all these element in Blood Incantation were an uncanny postmodern phantasm – made all the more disingenuous by the fact they are humans and not in fact an AI – Astral Tomb sound like a band with blood (yep) coursing through their veins. Their riff style is already clearly defined, and can be mapped out across these five tracks with ease. They circle and repeat themes, ruminating on one simplistic idea by adding subtle variations with each repetition, layers, dissonance, stilts and starts in tempo.

Solos are also characterised by unadulterated enthusiasm, leaping from chaotic fretboard murder to novel harmonic shapes and curious rhythmic punches. The drums, although a little underserved by the rough and ready mix, excel at brief, mid-paced patterns that extend breakdowns beyond the remit of what good taste would usually allow. But this only furthers the image of a band young enough to care little for the dictates of convention, focused solely on stamping their mark on the world.

Disjointed, cluttered, circular, unfocused, sure all these things could be said about ‘Soulgazer’. But beneath this there is a new face of sci-fi themed death metal emerging to stand next to the likes of a Cryptic Shift, one that warrants some scrutiny in the years to come. Astral Tomb may have a long way to go in terms of finesse, but after album number one they have achieved far more than many older bands with decades of experience under their belts: they have a voice of their own and they are able to communicate this to an audience when it really counts. For that and that alone we should probably pay attention.

Originally published at Hate Meditations