TOL - “LAST GRIEF” CD

AR53: 

Amidst the cataclysm of the world as we know it, TOL’s Last Grief couldn’t be more pertinent. Formed in 2014 as a trio comprising Sean Bailey (vocals, drums), Justin Fuller (guitar) and Lee Parker (bass), this line-up debuted on the Survive/War Dream 7” (2016, No Patience Records). In 2017, Tom Rowley joined on drums. Last Grief is the band's long-awaited first album.

Songs such as Touch the Mortar and Grey Pillar reference the cold materiality of ruination, while Gripping the Chain and Survive demand a dogged endurance within an eroding landscape. Akin to post-punk outfits 1919, Rudimentary Peni and Killing Joke, TOL speaks to the critical need to interrogate the prevalent.

Sonically, the album is a level above the 7” single, recorded again by Jack Farley (Power, Zond) and mixed by Mikey Young (Total Control
). Bailey’s vocals sound cavernous over the depths of layered guitars, the drumming is thunderous and unrelenting, but balance is found at the extremity. The band is a unified and overwhelming force. Last Grief is a soundscape of fury, a primordial weapon of defiance.