I'm slightly ashamed to say that, until earlier this year, I'd more or less written off Italy's Forgotten Tomb as a gothy clone of the Swedish black metallers Shining. It took seeing a spellbinding live performance in Germany and the arrival of their latest album to convince me I was wrong. From there, I delved into their back catalog. Their earlier material generally stays the course of straightforward depressive black metal-- it doesn't get much grimmer than an Ildjarn tribute album-- but somewhere around 2007's Negative Megalomania, the band's sound began to shift, and a more dynamic, even rock-based approach took over. That's not to say Forgotten Tomb pulled a Darkthrone and started aping Manilla Road, but there was a definite spring in their step that hadn't been there previously. They carried that frosty bounce through to their next couple records, and now, on …And Don't Deliver Us From Evil, they've hit their groove.
Opener "Deprived", kicks off as full-bore black 'n' roll banger that sinks into gloomier territory halfway through then switches into post-metal mode for the remaining two minutes of shiny acoustic chords and punchy drums that merrily trip along Shoegaze Alley. And that's just the first song. There's a lot of genre blending going on here; lines blur almost faster than they register, and Forgotten Tomb have clearly got goldish-caliber attention spans on some of these tunes. The title track begins as atmospheric black metal as narrated by Attila Csihar's hoarsest of croaks then dips back into languid black 'n' roll swing. "Cold Summer" offers a slow, menacing shadow of their former suicidal sound, while "Let's Torture Each Other" is a catchy, perverted love song for shut-ins. "Love Me Like You'd Love the Death" is Type O Negative gothic that sees vocalist Herr Morbid abusing his vocal chords over slow, slithering blackness with doomy underpinnings. The clean, hollow vocals on "Adrift" are even more reminiscent of Type O's Peter Steele. "Nullifying Tomorrow" ends the album on a sad Katatonia-esque note-- echoes of the Swedish sadsacks can be found throughout the record, as moody rock and atmospheric black metal battle for dominance (doom and goth put up a good fight, but are ultimate quashed by melodic chords and desperate growls).
Forgotten Tomb are an interesting band, and one that refuses to fall into any of the neat little boxes we writers have spent so many decades getting cozy for them. They remind me of a more melancholy and less aggressive Faustcoven, or a more evolved Shining (far from a clone, they've released the record that Kvarforth & Co. should've done ages ago). Their willingness to explore sounds and draw in influences from outside the approved spectrum for black metal has resulted in one hell of a good record, one that continues to grow with every listen. Their roots still show from time to time, but it's become apparent that Forgotten Tomb have outgrown their depressive shackles and, unlike many of their peers, embraced evolution.
