Tumanduumband - Drowning in Fathomless Despair

Tumanduumband's third release dropped out of nowhere at the end of January. A testament to the lads' will to keep the ball rolling over lockdown, as it has been recorded at home on smartphones, it proves that little will stop this four-legged beast. It also signals a change in direction and sound - the instrumental drum and bass doom riffs are replaced with sludgy, droney, blackened evil performed with guitars and vocals instead. So, fair play for keeping things going, and fresh, given all the shit going on in the world at the moment.

The title track is a droning slow burner, with Luke's tortured howls creating a genuinely unsettling vibe. It weaves in and out of different sections with a free flowing structure. More than anything, the focus is upon atmosphere and a different kind of evil that the duo's last two releases have been based around. The very raw production ethic works well here. As much as this choice has come out of necessity, with a national lockdown in force, it complements the sound that Tumanduumband have forged on their third release. Drums, bass and stoner/doom riffs wouldn't really work with this production style. 'Pierce The Lungs With The Sting Of Scorpions' has a distinctive black metal element to it. Somehow, it's even more evil than the track before it and arguably has more memorable elements to it. The backing vocals give a demented extra dimension to the music. You'd imagine this as the sounds to accompany a dark magic ritual; fading out with whispers that evoke the last seconds of life fading away.

This release fits cohesively into Tumanduumband's back catalogue, despite a change in musical style and a complete inversion of the instrumentation used. It's still evil, heavy and unsettling. If you were taking a coach journey down to Hell itself, you'd imagine this as the soundtrack to your trip as you descend into the flames. It works, and it's still definitely a Tumanduumband release. By changing up the approach, you get more of an understanding of what they're actually about in this band. It seems they'll always be unpretentious, evil as fuck, fearlessly experimental (for example, with their instrument choices and omissions, but not just that), HEAVY and kneeling only to Satan.

This is purely personal criticism here, but a tiny amount of post-production editing wouldn't necessarily have gone amiss and wouldn't necessarily have defiled the artistic and aesthetic vision on this demo. Also, when I listen to Tumanduumband, I'm always going to gravitate more towards the first two releases due to the genre and the less extremely lo-fi production style. Songs like 'Bizarre Tomb' or 'Thou Shall Burn' are more memorable for me, and Drowning in Fathomless Despair lacks those catchy earworms of their 'doom' EPs. Does it need them, though? Fuck no. There's more to music sometimes. Drowning... is just meant to be evil, nothing more, nothing less, and it hits that nail square on the head.

When I say this was a surprise release, I mean, I literally spoke to them the day before they unleashed this new riff-tual and they didn't even hint at it. Have a watch below to hear about everything (else) they're up to at the moment...

MN