GLACIAL TOMB are set to leave their mark on 2024 as they prepare for the release of their second full length studio album, Lightless Expanse. The Denver, CO trio have embraced the foundations of sludge-corrupted death and black metal from their debut album while levelling up instrumental technicality and nuanced songwriting.

Invigorated by new bass player David Small’s presence, the group meticulously crafted Lightless Expanse throughout 2021 and 2022. Founding members Ben Hutcherson (guitar, vocals) and Michael Salazar (drums) embraced the new dynamic and fresh musical perspective Small brought to the band, with Hutcherson and Small’s work together in Khemmis no doubt fueling their creative alchemy.

The resulting album is an unflinching examination of the horrors of existence, captured with authenticity and meticulous attention to detail. The songs were produced and engineered by Hutcherson, with drums recorded at The Band Cave in Denver and everything else tracked at his home studio. In an era of hyper-quantized, soulless extreme music that prioritizes perfection above all else, the trio rehearsed relentlessly throughout 2022 before they began tracking in Spring 2023. They enlisted the renowned mixing and mastering skills of Arthur Rizk to realize their collective vision for this record.

The narrative arc that runs through the nine blistering tracks juxtaposes everyday suffering with nigh-ineffable cosmic horror; mental illness, grief, social isolation, and a longing for meaning all take the form of celestial beings and deific machinations. Hutcherson’s lyrics are inspired by writers such as Thomas Ligotti, Philipp Mainländer, Peter Wessel Zapffe, and Alan Watts.

These bleak themes are wrapped up in a bruising package of dissonant death metal intensity, shot through with a flourish of black metal grandiosity. Whilst the aforementioned dedication to arranging things ‘just so’ gives a technical and cerebral edge to their sound, the choruses are laden with soaring melodic hooks, satisfying the most riff-hungry amongst us. GLACIAL TOMB refuses to fit neatly within the parameters of any one genre, and their sound is all the richer for it. Lightless Expanse is a multi-layered exploration of heavy metal in all its complex and cathartic glory.

Lightless Expanse will be released via Prosthetic Records on September 20, 2024.