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Tombstones is an odd grouping of musicians, mostly due to the three band members that make up this group, and how many acts they are already involved with. The band includes Stevo Dobbins on vocals, known for his time in Impetigo, as well as Patrick Bruss on guitar and bass, who works with a few bands including Ribspreader, and drummer Elektrokutioner, whois involved with a huge amount of bands including underground acts like Encoffination. Given the kind of material these members play, this combination surely can produce a unique sound, but what makes it odd is their locations, as the members reside in eaiter Illinois, Colorado, or Texas. However this grouping came to be, Tombstones was born in 2008, and Not for the Squeamish followed two years later, and pays great homage to the B-Movie Horror feel nicely. Not for the Squeamish has artwork that depicts this more as an old black and white horror-themed comic book, and that's essentially what you're getting. Many Horror fans will notice the creature on the left is reminscent of Cthulhu, and even has an HPL on it's forehead to represent H.P. Lovecraft, the author, though I'm not sure if there's any impression the other two creatures, clearly representing the band members, are supposed to have. The progress through this effort seems built around a Tales from the Crypt formula. Pretty much each real track has an introductory narrative that is performed in a manner similar to that of the Crypt Keeper. While it's no replacement, the narration does a good job through the release, and establishes the general story line for each of these songs. The only real issue about this is that these short narratives give the album more time and makes it appear more as a full-length in track length, but the overall track time just barely scrapes by without these additional segments. This is actually disheartening considering the material for this release was recorded in the timespan of two years betwenn May of 2008 and 2010. But, aside the lack of actual music, it all manages to work well. These spoken word segments are very consistent with one another, and keep the same raw recording atmosphere to them that feeds into the more cult-like atmosphere that many B-Movies would carry. Outside that, many who know of Razorback Records would know what to expect from this band musically. The group performs more of an old-school Crossover Thrash style, but with some Death Metal riffs thrown in and a cheesy on purpose gutteral style that dominates most of the album, with a rhaspier back of the throat approach that accompanies it throughout the songs. Lyrically, it's much like listening to a summarized version of an old B-Movie, and comes off like other bands that have appeared on the label, as well as are known for playing this niche style of Death and Thrash such as Ghoul, except a little more serious outside the vocals, showing more of a Deceased impression then anything, but they really do just make the album. Had a serious gutteral attempt been used through this release, it simply would not have worked at all. The production of the album, again, is where it shines. The raw quality really helps to solidify the B-Movie feel, and can come across as if this were as if it were some kind of Metal Horror film on VHS. It also aids the music greatly, as what the band plays really isn't all that complex, and many of the chords used are actually somewhat generic, but the distortion applied to them just makes them sound fantastic for this kind of recording. "A Cold Encounter" is proof of this, as the guitars aren't anything too spectacular, though the drumming keeps up nicely but still remains rather simple. Of course, when you tack on the twisted vocal style and the horror-themed lyrics, it all works together well, and the production just solidifes the atmosphere to make it sound unique, when it actually isn't all that different. Many of the songs on here are also played at a mid-tempo, not really getting all that fast outside of a few songs, like "Not for the Sequeamish", a blistering Thrash song that clocks in just under two minutes, but does a good job kicking ass along the way of that short time span, and introducing the listener nicely to the blending of Crossover Thrash with Death Metal. While the spoken word segments work nicely for the release, they do wind up beecoming a little boring over time, and they aren't necessarily important to the album, it just adds to the atmosphere of the recording. Of course, once you go through Not for the Squeamish a couple times, the general understanding of that is present, and these little segments just necome an annoyance and leave the listener cutting them out of the CD, or just heading for the skip track button. "Grave Undertaking" kicks off a trilogy of songs, though there really doesn't seem to be much bringing the three together, so this is a nice ten minute chunk of Metal without having an interruption giving a summary. Of course, this is equally frustrating on the earlier tracks "Not for the Sequamish" and "A Cold Encounter", as well as the other shorter tracks on here, because of how short the songs actually are. You start to really get into the music, and it stops, and you wait upwards of thirty seconds before the next song actually starts. "Outro: A Little Warning..." kinda hurts the album too, though it establishes the overall "doing it for fun" quality of the band as well, leaving the narrator to clearly be out of ideas and screws up at the end, and mumbling about how stupid the final warning came out. Of course, this will leave you furious since the narrator was so well done in all the tracks, you almost expect some kind of decent warning at the end, and not about something that is "whimpy". But, even with the narration breaking up the flow of the release, it's something that listeners can take out easily in today's age, and they actually do serve a purpose for the first few times through the recording. Each track on this recording is great, and has a very campy feel to it, but it's still some addicting, and simple, Metal, that pays homage to Thrash, Death, and even Horror nicely. The only complaint as far as the songs go would be the track "A Cold Encounter", which just isn't really all that great, coming off a little too simple thanks mostly due to it's slower nature, and just feels tacked on. Of course, if you just put all the songs together, it does kind of fit in, but still not as great. Not for the Squeamish is a great album, and Tombstones shows that it has enough of a unique feel to it to appeal to many fans within the Metal community, leaving a positive impression from TOmbstones in general. |
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