Forgotten Tomb‘s pain is far from over.
Created in Italy in 1999 as a solo project by Ferdinando “Herr Morbid” Marchisio (all instruments then vocals/guitar, Formalist, Tombstone Highway), it is now accompanied by Alessandro “Algol” Comerio (bass, Hiems), Kyoo Nam “Asher” Rossi (drums, Whiskey Ritual, Caronte, Kirlian Camera, Tulpa) and J (guitar, Aara, Malphas, Thron, ex-Chotzä) for the release of Nightfloating, his eleventh album.
Nightfloating, the eponymous track, is the first to envelop us in its morose dissonance, immediately creating a mix between aggression via the screams and a kind of lethargy thanks to the rhythmics. Leads and keyboards contribute to this heady ambience, which eventually turns out to be softer and softer, but eventually fades away to make way for the haunting A Chill That You Can’t Taint, where the harmonics fly freely and lead us through this river of darkness. The vocalist’s howls remain very raw, even during the most soothing moments, creating a kind of underlying violence that appears from time to time before letting the keyboards carry us away on This Sickness Withered My Heart, which gives voice back to the band’s DSBM influences. These welcome Old School roots pair perfectly with the more ethereal touches the musicians develop here, and the track flows naturally into a curtain of oppression when Unsafe Spaces follows, weaving heavier harmonics than on the previous tracks. The same direction is found in the macabre solos, which only make the listening experience even more eerie, as does the instrumental composition that follows called Drifting, where relatively minimalist, highly repetitive keyboards with Dungeon Synth influences are at work before giving way to A Despicable Gift which, in addition to reviving the rocky saturation, reveals an ideal balance between the liveliness of the rhythm, the sinister touches of the leads and the heartbreak of the vocal parts. The track is long, and will slow down or even subside, eventually fading away as the solos appear.
Forgotten Tomb hasn’t forgotten its melancholy, but the band brings it to life with increasingly varied influences. If the common thread remains this persistent darkness, Nightfloating also exploits it with raw or ethereal touches as it sees fit.
85/100