Our doom has long been impending, though time may appear to be of the essence as the wheels of confusion render blazing minds corrupted and futile no manner of action will abate the clattering of thunderous hooves as the arrival of apocalyptic riders grows loudest. Fifteen years deep into their depiction of large scale destruction, chaotic realms and fantastical warfare Lexington, Kentucky-based death metal quartet Tombstalker sing the anthems of war machines both real and imagined as the geologic scale of our inevitable chaotic downfall comes into most lucid focus. Their much anticipated latest mLP, ‘Age of Darkness‘, manifests as the work of a band who’re fundamentally the same after six years’ distance but given to a whirlwind of internal change nonetheless, run through their paces to a point of honed identity. Their catchiest melodic death riffs and heaviest punkish Swedeath kicks meet up with triumph-minded tone on this brief but intensely potent point of return.

Tombstalker formed as a trio circa 2008 initially playing a style which is more-or-less still recognizably upheld today wherein they’ve blended old school British and Swedish death metal of the late 80’s/early 90’s with equally shared inspiration taken from crust punk/d-beat. While their first demo and the split it’d been included on isn’t readily available today their second official release, a split with pre-Valdrin group Dawn of Wolves (‘Cemetery Wolven Ritual‘, 2010) was immediately impressive at at time where heavier/extreme crust inspired music was exploding in an appreciable way in the states. The signature melodicism of the band was more-or-less in place at that point as they’d naturally stood out by way of an early 90’s Swedish melodic death metal verve and a cavernous HM-2 driven sound, something a bit brutal yet still heavy metal in its charge that’d appeal to fans of early Intestine Baalism and the first Desultory record as their debut EP (‘Tombstalker‘, 2011) made a few ripples in the USDM underground at the time. Their sound never quite reaches the “prog” hinted ambition of deep cuts like Afflicted and instead focuses on the plain, corticated potency of what ‘heavy metal’ melodicism Dismember and similar groups brought to early death metal.

The band would get picked up by Shadow Kingdom/Hell’s Headbangers for their debut LP (‘Black Crusades‘, 2015) a record which I’ve long been a champion for per is unique interpolation of Bolt Thrower-esque melody/riffcraft with a ‘Clandestine‘-sided Swedish death metal barrage. It wasn’t a perfect album but the main appeal could found in the broad spectrum delivery of those traits (melodic death, thrash, crust, etc.) rather than plain millwork of tropes, setting that album neatly alongside Black Breath‘s ‘Slaves Beyond Death‘ that same year among my favorites; Beyond that point I believe that line-up eventually formed Rotting Kingdom, a death/doom metal project which featured their first drummer as well as the guitarist for sludge group Nest and before that idea had taken off beyond 2017 Tombstalker released the chaotic, cavernous 7″ EP ‘Chaotic Devotion‘ which you’ll recall I’d reviewed favorably prior to release. It was the sort of interstitial single that’d felt like a ramp up to something big but it’d turned out to be a quick barrage, a last gasp before a hiatus of ~six or so years.

Wizened, weathered, and still insane. — Six years appears to have been enough time to find a new drummer, include a fourth member (lead guitarist Clay Rice) borrowed from their other group, and take stock of the strengths and major focus of the whole gig. The result is still purely fixated on ‘old school’ death metal which aims for the harder edged side of melodic death metal, presenting a viable waltz between the sophisticated and the moshable. Again, this is not a far distanced walk beyond previous work on paper but the three main pieces here takes us somewhere new at every turn and speak with a voice that entrenched in its statement rather than pure sub-genre kinetics. What we find here is rapturous, thundering, grotesquely heavy melodic death metal with a triumphal surge to its movement and a brilliant overall render which feels immense in both presence and weighty experience.

If you’re looking for a bit of that death metal meets crust punk beaten left hand pathos “Titan Warlord” is a fine example of what Tombstalker have always done best amplified to a hideously engaging heat. Whereas in the past we’d gotten an almost melodic hardcore punk or neocrust feeling to some of their rhythms in this style in the past here we get the march of a thousand tanks in a stomping, linear barrel-forth attack. It is probably the most classic Swedish death metal tip on this mLP that doesn’t directly dabble in the romanticism of early 90’s melodic death. If they are aiming for this sound/style on a full-length in the future I think the 3:1 ratio of melodic battle music and this punkish d-beaten side of the group is golden. The suite for two acoustic guitars that is the title track (“Age of Darkness”) otherwise lends the full listen the Eucharist-era sphere of influence to the recording without emulating the gothic, teenaged romanticism of the early 90’s and instead creates a pensive segue in between the mayhem.

The major event here for most listeners will be shared between opener “Astral Combat” and closer “Final Night”, both of which showcase the amount of change that has occurred within this newly configured Tombstalker. Now, to be fair without belaboring the point we could hear references to ‘Terminal Spirit Disease‘-era melodeath as far back as 2011 it only seems they’ve pulled back into this original direction with a bit more capability and gusto for these songs. Post-‘Slaughter of the Soul‘ era death metal certainly would be a reasonable reference to the tightly composed and aggressive melodic style found on “Final Night”, which sophisticates the effect of something like Fleshcrawl‘s ‘Bloodred Massacre‘ down to what is essentially a heavy metal piece with its swaying rhythms. Nothing quite as brutal as say, ‘An Anatomy of the Beast‘, per its rocking stomp but still ringing with tragedian hammer; “Astral Combat” is essentially the keystone of the full listen and the major thread where the interplay of the two guitarists is most finessed as they slash through this incredibly lucid nigh blackened melodic death metal piece which escalates within each addition to its core phrase. The effect is intensely anthemic while Tombstalker emulate both the chaotic tumult of early-to-mid 90’s melodic death but also the inspired fixation of it. This is where we get the most classic feeling from ‘Age of Darkness‘ while still boiling the actual piece down to its most necessary/impactful movements.

The effect of the full listen is, at least on my part, is much more than “Hey, remember these guys? They’re still great.” with the addendum that they’ve summed and intensified their own voice within these four pieces. As I’d suggested prior this is an ideal ratio of high impact melodicism, ‘old school’ Swedish death’s grinding apparatus, and the fitting push of crust-adjacent rhythms natural to that style for my own taste. They’ve gotten it exactly right for this release both as a point of return and an extension of what they’ve always been about. If you’re already a fan this is an essential grab in their already strong discography and hey, if you’re new to the group this is easily one of the more memorable classics-minded death metal releases in the first half of 2023. A high recommendation.

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