Track Premiere: Nuclear Tomb – “Terror Labyrinthian”
Amid a sea of glass, scavengers pick through the bones of a fallen skyscraper. Tortured steel and sand surround them; hunger and shame emanate from within. It’s a misguided shame—they didn’t split the atom. They didn’t transmit the codes. Nevertheless, the scale of the city’s loss, the perverse waste of it all, weighs constantly on their hunched shoulders. Deep in tangled halls, a burst of noise from a dilapidated intercom sends fear coursing through brainstems mangled with mutations. This is the music of Nuclear Tomb.
“Terror Labyrinthian” is every bit as claustrophobic as the name implies: deathrash riffs, stripped down production, and fluctuating tempos form a maze both overwhelming and addictive. Radioactive elements of sludge and grindcore permeate the song’s DNA; these unpredictable genre shifts and the sheer number of riffs packed into its 3-minute runtime confound on first listen, but quickly burn into memory like permanent shadows. From whispered vocals to barbs of dissodeath in the vein of Suffering Hour, it’s clear the band draws influence from myriad styles and eras, but melts them down into a mold all their own. These are the only fallout boys (and gal) I want to hear. Long live weirdo deathrash!
Terror Labyrinthian releases April 19 through Everlasting Spew Records.
