The Tombstalker from Lexington, Kentucky have behind them a debut that dates back to 2015 and an EP that showed promise. «Chaos Monolith» is their second full-length album and it reveals a band that knows what it wants: filthy, old death metal with crust and thrash at its core.
Country: USA (Kentucky)
Genre: Old-school death metal, crust, thrash
For fans of: Bolt Thrower, Entombed, Autopsy
The album
Tombstalker formed in 2008 as a trio of musicians who had been through Rotting Kingdom and Pyromancer. Their path began with the self-titled EP of 2011, continued with «Black Crusades» (2015) and «Age of Darkness» (2023), where the sound gained a more semi-melodic texture and a more thunderous production. On drums for the new album is Dustin Boltjes (Flesher, formerly Demiricous), who had also played as a session player on the previous EP.
The material keeps its HM-2 character and the d-beat outbursts, with moves that recall Bolt Thrower, but here everything is tighter: cleaner transitions, heavier steps and riffs that hold all the way to the end.
Our take
The album doesn’t try to reinvent the genre, nor does it aim to. It is the work of a band that has found its spot: dirty sound, speed and that sense of the underground that is hard to find anymore. For those who love old death metal, «Chaos Monolith» has enough moments to earn its place on the shelf.
See also: Obituary – Cause of Death | DEATH KOMMANDER – The Great Offensive
