Review Of The New Tomarum Album "Beyond Obsidian Euphoria".
Band Name: Tomarum
Album Title: Beyond Obsidian Euphoria
Tracklist:
In Search Of The Triumph Beyond… (Obsidian Overture)
Introspection
Shallow Ecstasy
Shed This Erroneus Skin
Blood Mirage
Halcyon Memory: Dreamscapes Across The Blue
Silver, Ashen Tears
The Final Pursuit Of Light
Becoming The Stone Icon (Obsidian Reprise)
Running Time: 1:08:48
Release Date: April 4, 2025
Label: Prosthetic Records
Rating: 10/10
Band Members:
Kyle Walburn - Electric Guitar, 6 And 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Programming
Brandon Jacovella - Electric Guitar, 6 and 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Programming, Contrabass, Narration
Matthew Longerbeam - Electric Guitar, Vocals
Michael Sanders- Bass And Vocals
Chris Stropoli - Drums, Vocals. Programming, Sound Design
Additional Album Info:
Engineered And Produced By Tomarum In Their Home Studio
Vocals Engineered And Produced By Chris Tate At Conquer Recordings
Acoustic Guitars And Contrasbass Engineered And Produced By Prairies At Little House Studios
Drums Engineered And Edited By Chris Stropoli And Co-Produced By Jade Edge
Additional Synth And Sound Design By Steven Harbor
Mixed And Mastered By V. Santura At Woodshed Studio
Art By Mariah Poyk
Photography By Vizions Of Mize
Logo By Moonrot Art
Layout Graphic Design, Calligraphy And Borders By Woodcutters Illustration
From the beautiful (but way too hot!) U.S. state of Georgia comes a fairly new band called Tomarum. There are two umlauts in the band name, but I’m too stupid to figure out how to put them in on my ‘puter. Lol. I bought the new album on a whim, never having heard of them before. Their newest (and second) album “Beyond Obsidian Euphoria” was released by Prosthetic Records and they usually release nothing but great albums so I took a chance. Also, the cover art appealed to me. Did I find the album good, or did I feel like I wasted my money? Read on to find out!
While the band is from the U.S., the sound on this is more akin to the black metal bands from Europe. The music is very well executed and pretty evil sounding black metal. Fast, aggressive, yet there’s also some kickass keyboards on it. Keyboards that aren’t silly and remind me of Arcturus, early Covenant and “Tales From The Thousand Lakes” era Amorphis a bit. They definitely have their own sound too and this is a bit of a folk metal album as well. While the only two traditional instruments credited on the album are acoustic guitar and contrabass, I hear some mandolin and other folk instruments too. These may be coming from a synthesizer, but if they are they sure as hell sound real. So, yeah… Imagine a bit of Arcturus, some Otyg and Vintgersorg with black metal, folk instruments and Tomarum’s own fancy form of black metal. The drumming here is insanely good, but every musician involved is fucking amazing and the guitars border on being tech at times. There are all kinds of prog/tech stuff going on here and it’s awesome to witness with your ear holes. The vocals are superb and are rooted in black metal and the clean choir-styled gang vocals are amazing and really remind me of Otyg and Vintersorg. Which reminds me… Mr. ‘Sorg, where is that new Otyg album you have promised us for way too long? The lyrics are about struggle, inner meaning and emotions. The overall sound of the album is remarkable due to a great production.
The cover art is what initially made me interested in the album. It shows a sort of bloody river flowing through a dark and ominous mountain range. You can actually see that there are different thicknesses of paint used on it. It looks so damn cool and even though this cover is made of the usual material used for cd booklets, it looks like it was done on canvas. Inside of the eight-page booklet you will find all of the album’s lyrics, all of the band and album information and another two-page version of the album cover art that shows more than the cover does.
If you are a fan of atmospheric black metal, you should look into “Beyond Obsidian Euphoria”. Due to its professionalism and unique ideas, it garners my highest recommendation possible.
As always, I like to ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the albums you love or by going to their Bandcamp and/or their Facebook pages and supporting them there.
Blasted By Britton Facebook Group.
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