this is the original 2008 version. All tracks were remixed and remastered in 2014 and are included on the compilation Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy III: todestrieb.bandcamp.com/album/total-occultic-mechanical-blasphemy-iii
T.O.M.B. is a mysterious, unnamed entity well known for crafting the darkest noise recordings with the aid of nothing but field recordings. With Macabre Noize Royale, T.O.M.B. has set out to push the boundaries further than ever before.
To collect the field recordings T.O.M.B. travelled and trespassed through Pennsylvania's darkest landmarks including:
Bethlehem Steel Works - builder of large calibre guns during WWI and WWII
Eden Hall Church - 157 year old gothic church destroyed from arson
Laurel Hill Cemetery - 170 year old cemetery
Lambertville High School - students burned alive 30 years ago, site of countless suicides since.
Each location has a disturbing history and they have become locations of multiple ghost sightings and unexplained deaths.
Through these field recordings, smashing recording rods into massive steel structures and ancient crypt doors, T.O.M.B... más
All music and lyrics: NoOne
Occult musicians who contributed to this recording:
Obscure Manifesto, Joseph Gorski (Deteriorate), Akex Bouks (Goreaphobia), Jay Anderson (Deteriorate, Zahgurim), Thorous (Deteriorate), Mike Trush (Necrotion, Deteriorate), Joseph Guld, Rus Gale (Hazarax), Ved Rocke.
I don't really remember, but I must have picked this up on the strength of Todestrieb name attached, knowing that the label's occasional left-field excursions sometimes produced curious results (Nuit Noire, Altorių Šešėliai). Now, fusing black metal with noise, while not new, still has not become a daily order of things, which does play in T.O.M.B.'s favor. That is not to say that this album should immediately be embraced with open arms, for if you already familiarized yourself with WOLD, Nekrasov and Gnaw Their Tongues, "Macabre Noize Royale" will hardly expand your horizons. On the other hand, if one is willing to scratch a little beneath the surface of T.O.M.B.'s generally smothered, naturally unwelcoming sound and disposition and spend a bit of time in the catacombs, he/she might manage to unearth a thing or two.
Somewhat predictably, No One (that's the T.O.M.B. proprietor's alias) basically divvies up his work between the more obvious black metal compositions and the actual noise pieces, and it should be said that he does one better than the other. The former appear in the form of fairly normal BM with various levels of raw production. In light of the actual compositions not being particularly noteworthy - just noisier-than-usual BM numbers like "Tempus Eversionis", "ABLANATHANALBA" - it is more interesting to witness how the three consecutively positioned tracks "Immitis", "Shaare Moth" and "Brazen Endurance" are all propelled by completely different sound - from pretty rounded to reverb-ridden to totally tinny, respectively. I would single out the title track as No One's most interesting BM endeavor. Strictly speaking, that track stood out due to really being a borderline piece: BM by way rhythmic noise, infused with audibly separated electro-beats.
As for noise per se, to his credit No One dashes for some diversity while straddling the area in and around death industrial, variously spiced up with additional doses of cacophony and nods to adjacent genres. "Fog Ritual" is noteworthy for sounding like an excessively distorted, lo-fi take on Martial Industrial. The unhurried "The Proclamation" carries a nearly ritualistic bent to it. Swirling and chaotic "I Dine on the Tongues of Hypocrites" probably possesses the most discernible power electronics flair and provides a decent contrast to the conspicuously ambient closer "Christening of Demons". Finally, I should mention the Havohej-influenced "Bleed Bitch Bleed" and considerably psychedelic "United by Blakk Blood" as highlights. All of them are more interesting to hear then the standard BM runs nearby.
All in all, given the distribution of strengths and weaknesses, No One should have dumped his BM pretensions and concentrated on what he has predilection for. Judging by what was subsequently heard on "Uncovered Ancient Gateways", he actually followed suit. Good job!
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