Editor's Note 8/6/19: Originally written for Metal Archives.
Ossuarium's Living Tomb got my attention when it was featured as Album of the Day on Bandcamp. I gave it a listen and was thoroughly impressed. This is an awesome death/doom monolith that isn't afraid to venture off into somewhat uncharted territory. The band's sound is essentially a more varied version of the style of death metal played by bands like Incantation and Disma, going back and forth between slow, crushing doom passages and faster ones resembling classic death metal. The production on the album is also reminiscent of that on albums by the aforementioned bands as it has that same raw, echoey sound, particularly on the excellent, powerful growls from vocalist Daniel Kelley.
This album has its share of straight up death/doom tunes, namely Blaze of Bodies and Malicious Equivalence, but what really makes this release stand out is how the band will draw influence from some pretty unexpected places. For example: Writing in Emptiness has an Autopsy-esque beginning before melodeath style riffs and an almost nu-metalish guitar passage come into play to end the track. There is also a spacy somber passage a few minutes into Corrosive Hallucinations interlaced with melodic and heavy guitar. The last three tracks demonstrate the unique nature of this album the best: Part 1 of End of Life Dreams and Visions demonstrates the band's eclectic nature well, morphing from bleak and heavy to melodic and foreboding before Malicious Equivalence punches the listener in the face with classic death metal brutality. Part 2 of the former track then follows and rounds out the album with haunting melodies and devastating riffs that play off of each other before fading into a straight up doomy assault. Putting the two parts of a track around another is a bizarre choice, but one that I think pays off here with the no-BS Malicious Equivalence serving as an effective contrast with the more experimental 2 part track.
This album seems to be making the rounds in the metal community and I'm glad because this band deserves the praise they're getting. If you want more music like Incantation or are sick of waiting for Disma to release a new album, pick this up. You will not be disappointed.
