OUTRE-TOMBE - Fléau Des Âmes LP (Preorder)

NB! Preorder item, release January 29.

Hailing from Québec City, Canada’s OUTRE-TOMBE formed in 2009 as a thrash metal trio. Upon their expansion into a quartet, the band quickly malformed their sound into old-school death metal inspired by the classics of the ‘80s and ‘90s. With the intent of playing sadistic metal evoking tales of the macabre, OUTRE-TOMBE released three albums in steady succession – 2015’s Répurgation, 2018’s Nécrovortex, and 2021’s Abysse mortifère – each one more definitively asserting their identity and reaping ever more acclaim in the process. In 2022, OUTRE-TOMBE toured Europe, but a fourth full-length has proved elusive.

Until now, with the imminent release of Fléau des âmes, courtesy of new label home DYING VICTIMS. On first blush, Fléau des âmes immediately sounds like OUTRE-TOMBE: foremost influences of classic Dismember, Autopsy, and Entombed firmly in place, the rush & crush is distinctly theirs. However, those closely following the band’s trajectory will be morbidly pleased by the slight-yet-significant advances on LP#4. For one, Fléau des âmes features the most devastating production yet on an OUTRE-TOMBE record; where past recordings tended toward the rawer and resolutely old-school, this album seemingly SWARMS with three-dimensional menace, dirt and clarity in equally brawny balance. For another, that production upgrade heightens an expanding songwriting arsenal; where said influences can still felt, there’s some Dutch doominess ala old Asphyx, Pentacle, and Thanatos here, giving a more worldly character to Fléau des âmes whilst remaining proudly among the ancient. Perhaps most of all – and, perhaps, symptomatic of said songwriting – there’s something of a newfound swagger to OUTRE-TOMBE here; don’t mistake it for the pejorative “groove” or the misleading “swinging,” but the quartet exude a loose & lawless aspect to their execution that’s addicting to the extreme.

Six years is a mighty-long time between albums, but OUTRE-TOMBE more than make up for lost time with Fléau des âmes, hungry to return and demonstrate the grit of their new material on the old continent. 

Black vinyl with insert, poster, sticker, post card & download code

Dying Victims Prod. 2027