Words by Paige Cobos
It is said that the best things come to those who wait. Sometimes the best and strongest work from an artist comes after a time between projects. That slow transformation into something unlike the last is what many artists including musicians strive to do each album. Every album is meant to say something and leave an impression that the listener can never forget.
That is the case for the Toronto based death metal band, Tomb Mold. With the recent release of their long awaited fourth album, The Enduring Spirit, Tomb Mold blends together an enduring array of different degrees of progressive death metal that stands out amongst the crowd of other releases this year. We got to talk to band members Derrick Vella, Payson Power and Max Klebanoff about the creative process during long pauses, metaphysics and philosophy and how cool it is to being featured in a popular video game.
Off Shelf: It has been four years since your last album, how does it feel to have your latest outing The Enduring Spirit now out?
Derrick Vella: Pretty good! Felt like a chapter spanning a few years of my life finally coming to a close. Definitely satisfying and a relief.
Payson Power: It feels terrific, I’m really happy with all the facets of the release. We put everything we had into this album, and the response has been amazing. I’m glad we took our time and honed our craft as much as we did, I can honestly say it feels like all the work has paid off.
OS: Your self-released demo from last year, Aperture Of Body, sounds like a harbinger of this album in a certain way. What was the creative process from that demo onto the new album like?
DV: We had a batch of songs, and knew a couple of them wouldn’t make total sense on the record but had a home elsewhere. We always love making tapes, and basically Max undertakes the entire thing from recording it to mixing/mastering and creating the artwork and layout. Me and Payson have it easy, we just show up and blow takes and go home. Because of Max’s know-how, we also managed to have a working demo of sorts of the LP as well for us to use to help write solos, bass parts, vocals, etc etc. We’ve never done any sort of pre-production for an album but I would say this one needed it.
PP: We’re sitting on an expanded edition with 70 minutes of blown takes actually. For the completionists.
OS: Just to backtrack a little bit, you guys contributed the exclusive track, “Adaptive Manipulator” to CD PROJEKT RED’s Cyberpunk 2077. How did that come about and what was it like to listen to your music through the radio of a popular video game?
DV: It was pretty easy, they had hit us up via email and we wrote the song one afternoon and recorded it the week after. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the PROJEKT RED studio when we were passing through Warsaw on tour. It was kind of funny to hear the song in the game… I never finished it mind you.
PP: I haven’t actually played it yet! It is on my list, and I’ve been waiting for it to be as finished as possible. It was a lot of fun to do that tune though, we didn’t have a lot of time and I think it turned out awesome. It’s a little bit of a departure for us as it’s pretty short, and we tried a couple weird ideas.
OS: The track ‘Will of Whispers’ is one of the standout tracks for me on the album. It blends several different elements of jazz fusion and 70’s prog rock. What was it like recording that song and weaving through these different styles while balancing that death metal core?
DV: That was a fun one to write and each time we ran through the song over the months and hearing it get better and better was sweet. It would definitely serve as a high point at some band practices. I don’t think we were trying to go for jazz or prog, so it’s cool to hear you say that. I guess there’s some quartal chords in it. That’s some Tyner stuff. I think we were more focused on keying in on all of the tension and release points… or maybe not, you’d have to ask those guys. One of the solos sounds like Toto.
PP: That song definitely has its own blood type. I think it fits like a glove in the album while simultaneously being the closest to a riddle. I don’t think there was a conscious effort to make it anything specific. It just is.
OS: What do you think is most essential for artists to keep in mind when faced with long pauses between projects?
DV: Good things will come even though you doubt it every single day.
PP: Progress is progress. Work as hard as you can, but remember there are things that can’t be forced. It’s a balancing act and it never ends.
OS: There are themes of metaphysics and philosophy in this album that are not too commonly found in death metal. Would you say the time away from recording allowed you guys the time and space to look beyond the boundaries of death metal when writing?
Max Klebanoff: Absolutely. While we were never a band that wrote specifically about gore and horror, the reimagining of the band during our break gave us ample room to restructure our thematic framework. I wouldn’t necessarily say that metaphysics or philosophy were explicit elements of the lyrical content for The Enduring Spirit, however speculative fiction, coming-of-age/transformative fantasy works and isekai/mecha informed most of my writing.
OS: Given it has been such a gap between projects, from the live music perspective, what has it been like performing live now compared to 2018/19?
DV: I can’t speak for the others but for me they feel much more casual. Maybe I’m just more comfortable on stage. It feels like we just walk out and start playing songs. Less of a “performance”.
PP: We’ve only played two shows since The Enduring Spirit was released – and one in the summer for the fifth anniversary of Manor Of Infinite Forms – but they were all great. I’d say our proficiency as musicians has increased greatly which has made our live sound better than ever, I’m definitely more confident in myself. Other than that, it’s the same passionate crowd showing up and filling the room with an almost tangible electricity.
OS: This album’s artwork is incredibly distinct and invokes an otherworldly prog-rock vibe. What was it like working with Jesse Jacobi and Karmazid?
MK: Working with Jesse and Karmazid is a blessing. Both were early collaborators and supporters of our band, so they understand our band’s ultimate goals as much as we do. Jesse and I discussed at length many of the thematic touchstones and influences for the album’s lyrics and it was immediately clear that he and I were on the same page in regard to the overall atmosphere of the album. We also shared our mutual love of artists such as Shinkawa Ohrai, Yuktaka Izubuchi, Yoshiyuki Takani, and Haruhiko Mikimoto during the brainstorming process for the art direction. I also shared with Jesse conceptual and setting works from shows such as Aura Battler Dunbine, Turn A Gundam, Space Runaway Ideon, and The Five Star Stories, as they were key influences for my lyrics. He managed to perfectly capture the overarching triumphant tone of the album while incorporating so much of our mutual artistic interests. What a legend!
OS: Any possible upcoming tour dates for 2024?
PP: We are in the process of booking gigs for 2024 right now. Looking forward to playing the rest of the album tracks live, as we’ve only played a few of them thus far.
OS: Finally, what are some of you guys favorite artists/albums right now?
DV: Afterbirth and Ben Monder
PP: Anti-God Hand – Blight Year, Kessoku Band – Kessoku Band, Marmalade Butcher – Onomatomani[a]kus.
MK: Reverence to Paroxysm – Lux Morte, Eyes of the Amaryllis – Perceptible To Everyone, Asha Sheshadri – Whiplash.