So I wrote a draft of a review for Last Retch‘s Abject Cruelty, but decided to let fellow scribe J Mays handle it. But I still gave that album lots of spins. So, when I got the promo for Montreal’s Scorching Tomb, also a Canadian death metal band on the Italian label Time To Kill Records, playing monster slabs of mid-paced, grooving death metal, delivered in a sub-30-minute beatdown, I got a huge sense of déjà vu.

Yeah, if you checked out that review of label mates Last Retch’s, Abject Cruelty, an album I really enjoyed,  or the likes of Tribal Gaze and Torture Hammer, this is going to be very similar. Granted, subtle differences in production, vocals, etc, are here, but for the most part, this is pretty fucking familiar.

While Last Retch has a little more Death/Doom lumber to their sound, Scorching Tomb gives off more ‘Caveman death metal’,  Tribal Gaze and  Sanguisugabogg vibes (Devin Swank even shows up on “Skullcrush”),  and with their more hefty,  hardcore meets death metal stomps, they also sort of imbue bands like Internal Bleeding.

This is cemented by former Obey the Brave bassist Miguel Lepage being in the lineup and fellow canuck death metal /hardcore act Primal Horde (who Scorching Tomb released a split with back in 2023) helping out on “Feel The Blade”. Fans of bands like and recent acts Open Kasket or Misery Whip will probably eat this up too.

But like the Last Retch album, this is killer stuff. The rare Cannibal Corpse-esque blast beats are filled with gobs of hefty, moshable riffs that bring the fucking ruckus, as tracks like “Stalagmite Impalement”, “Skullcrush”, “Diminished to Ashes”, “Feel The Blade”, ‘Sanctum of Bones”, and the trundling yet catchy Molder -ish “Bloodlust Sacrifice” are just simple, pure pummling bliss.

Do yourself a favor and grab both albums, NOW!. And mosh the fuck on.

[Visit the band's website]

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