When an artist such as No One approaches you to enquire as to the possibility of a re-posting of a review you’ve written, there’s only one answer you can give.
Yes.
So for your reading pleasure, here is a piece originally written for the fine fellows over at ThisIsNotAScene who have very kindly agreed to allow this review to be published here.
UAG is the sound of nightmares. Terrifying. Claustrophobic. Nauseating. The sole member of T.O.M.B. (Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy) is No One. A man with no name and only the creeping dissonance of Uncovered Ancient Gateways (recorded in 2009 and released in a limited capacity but now seeing a wider audience with Crucial Blast) to demonstrate his utter antipathy towards traditional recording techniques.
Previous albums, EPs and demo releases have been much talked about for their unconventional approach towards sickening noise driven black metal. It has been documented that No One broke into abandoned mental institutions to harness the atmosphere and desolate structures for the purposes of percussion and horror. And damn, does that cloying texture stay with you.
Pulsing with a decaying malevolence, the ambience of UAG is enough to induce terror in even the strongest of minds. The deep-seated horror of abandoned morgues and grossly deteriorating asylums weaves throughout this work, each track bleeding into the next with a rhythm of utter desolation. Hammering on the metal frameworks of the buildings utilised for UAG, T.O.M.B. creates a dense tone of true despair.
“Blood Vortex” builds into a disgusting crescendo of otherworldly sound before creeping back quietly and unnervingly into “Tribe of the Corpse.” If vocals could be said to be present then here we discover distorted glitches of possibly human construct seeping into the harsh industrial glances off the walls of crypts. It’s haunting in the most grotesque way imaginable.
Swirling in a maelstrom of reverb and disorder, “EMPLEH” brings UAG down to a slower pace. Inhuman howls permeate the misery; malignant and corrupted the tormented screams are fed through oppressive shadows and wrenched from the lowest circles of hell to spill over the foreboding touches of electronic anguish. Manic strikes against the fabric of reality resonant and draw UAG to a close on “Perverse Crematory Pleasures.” A telling title if ever there was one. Again wildly unearthly vocal signatures burrow into the subconscious, dragging you ever deeper to pits of horror, and fire and brimstone.
This is a record of hellish proportions and is certainly not something to be enjoyed. T.O.M.B. is a project to experience in the pitch of night, much like Gnaw Their Tongues, and by extension Aderlating or The Axis of Perdition. UAG is abhorrent and filled with dread. Be warned. It is completely fucked.
If you dare to listen, UAG is available on the Crucial Blast bandcamp page. Good luck. You are going to need it.
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