I’ll admit to knowing next to nothing about Indonesia. I know that it’s beautiful (I’ve seen pictures and I love their action movies, so I’m sort of an expert) but I’m not here to talk about traveling, I’m here to talk about the proud and savage Jakarta natives, Tombstone.

Coming in hot as a meteor shower and off the heels of 2023’s To the Existence of Light,  The Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence is their third release and it’s a huge leap forward for the band, in terms of production, instrumentation and incredible flesh-flaying intensity.

I’m not bullshitting either, there’s a hunger for blood with this one. “Mistime Their Entry into the Mausoleum” acts as the calm before the storm. It echoes at a somber pace, and as it trails of,f “Walking Under the Torches” roars to life. It’s unrelenting, hitting a Dimmu Borgir flourish throughout with some killer ambient riffing over the blasts.

“A Voice Full of Menace” goes full force Gorgoroth with this bombastic salvo scattered with furious blasting. They throw in a clean interlude at the mid-track mark, but it’s over quickly. “Gates to Hades” has this martial pacing before the blasts rain down like steel shards.

Nirrojim and Thorner sound absolutely vicious on this album, capturing the second wave of Norway’s scene while injecting their own sadistic touches to the mix.

“Reckoning in Blood” does this well, managing to be the rawest track, smack dab in the middle of the record. I think it’s my favorite track, and next up is the Enthroned-ish (yes, I know they’re not fucking Norwegian… they’re Belgian and I’m contrasting the two) “The Wizard of Evergreen Coast”. This track channels Towards the Skullthrone of Satan so well, its unsettling and seething rage is barely restrained.

“The Mist” is the spooky Blackened Death dungeon crawler that sets The Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence apart from its predecessors. I love how the song is laid out, and it rips headlong into the final track “Eternal Recurrence,” an almost Marduk-ish beater circa Those of the Unlight or Nightwing.

What we have here, friends and neighbors, is a blaster piece of a Black Metal album. The production is louder and rawer than on To the Existence of Light, whereas that album had some killer moments. I think with this being an independent release, they were able to deliver a more Panzerfaust than Soulside Journey sound on this album and are better for it.

For you black hearted fans of Darkthrone, Marduk, and early Dimmu Borgir, get this album!

 

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