ALBUM REVIEW: Earthbound – Tome Of The Unreplenished

The entity from beyond the stars known as TOME OF THE UNREPLENISHED have returned to us puny humans in order to release their new album Earthbound. Formerly acting in the proud tradition of black metal one-man bands, founder Hermes has bolstered his line-up with faces pulled from the line-ups of MACABRE OMEN, CODE and OMEGA CENTAURI. Will this be a prudent move however, pushing his project up through the outer limits of the cosmos? Or could there perhaps be something of a failure to launch?

Opener Tellurian sets out the cart for what TOME OF THE UNREPLENISHED are looking to achieve on this release. It is bleak and miserable writ so large it is almost a cosmic body, blending thoroughly nihilistic riffing with oddly bright yet morose chants and even a spoken word segment. It is professional, layered and thoroughly engaging, sounding familiar yet unfamiliar. This continues to be the case on Unbound, which carries the torch on this isolated sojourn through the outer recesses of the cosmos. It barrels and rolls, surging forward into whip-tight blasts and falling back into restrained sections of somber riff work.

Tryst At The Gales Of Cyprus is a meander through Mediterranean tinged atmosphere draped across some overtly proggy soundscapes. At times sounding faintly like a fever dream playing out under the Anatolian stars, it is a mind-bending interlude from the blackened misery that bookends it and is certainly a unique inclusion that you would be hard pressed to find any other band of this ilk even attempting. TOME OF THE UNREPLENISHED most definitely deserve points for originality on this one.

Toward The Self carries the usual hallmarks of bleak and faintly discordant black metal, but also deigns to throw out some ludicrously warm and actually fairly charming melodic chants in its middle and closing sections. Anyone familiar with the work of Poland’s BATUSHKA will know that this almost always has the effect of sticking firmly in your mind and making you want to revisit the warm glow of these almost faintly religious passages.

Astraios Ayr is more straightforward than its predecessors, but that does not mean it is un-engaging. It is filled to the brim with subtle melody, sweeping guitar lines and juddering blasts. Across its 11-minute runtime it imparts some utterly freezing atmosphere, delivered either by its shard-of-ice guitar tone or by its overwhelmingly gloomy keyboard segments. In case its name didn’t give anything away, Portcullis To Dodekatheon is a Dungeon Synth odyssey. It conjures moments reminiscent of OLD SORCERY’s best material – sweeping, low resolution dreamscapes of forgotten epochs. It becomes even more effective in its later moments, with the addition of a plodding, dramatic drum line, subtle guitar work and howling vocals. If you’re partial to a bit of the old +2 Pipes Of Haunting though, this will likely be your standout track of the album.

Much like Lovecraft’s half-remembered dreamscapes of unknown Kadath, Earthbound presents familiar unfamiliarities in an otherworldly and challenging way. It’s black metal, but perhaps not as you know it, and in a world where copycat bands are ten-a-penny, it’s incredibly refreshing to see someone prepared to take risks and execute them confidently.

Rating: 7/10

Earthbound is out now via Avantgarde Music and Xenoglossy Productions.

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