Review by Jeger on February 27, 2025.

I just knew once I read that this album is about self-destruction, transcendence, healing from psychological torment and all that bullshit, I just had to review it. There's a lot of this stuff floating around the black metal scene as of late: epic, complex and deep like some kind of progressive/technical/avant-garde/experimental black metal album that shows just how fucking good the band truly is but without really delivering the true black metal goods. Into a mire of souped-up engineering techniques, music that only the most advanced of civilizations can read and probably some jazz fusion thrown in there somewhere. On April 4, the Georgia boys known as Tómarúm will release their sophomore album, Beyond Obsidian Euphoria, via Prosthetic Records.

The top selling point when it comes to these types of records is the fact that you just don't know what you're getting yourself into. There's always something unexpected around every turn. The intro to "Shallow Ecstasy" for example as it violently transitions from some kind of far East acoustic guitar passage into the vortex: surging riffs, rapid-fire double-bass currents and a multi-faceted vox attack. Progressive guitar doodles and unpredictable changes in tempo create an experience worth exploring after you take too many THC gummies… Like if Anciients wrote a black metal album. A quintet and what a way to utilize a full lineup. Full and layered, colorful and yet blackened to perfection is the way here. Fuck video games, these kids were too busy playing their instruments and it's paying dividends. "Shed This Erroneous Skin" - is it Final Fantasy or is it black metal? The world may never know... Striking up the visuals here with mystifying atmospheric elements/effects and then a Satriani worshipping lead. I'd hate to have to mix this thing. There's about a thousand things going on, and I usually dread acoustics because so few bands know how to use them viably. Not the case here as our boys utilize what sounds like a variety of different instruments to generate a fantasy-reveling, transported-to-a-parallel-universe level situation.

Prog can be pretty obnoxious stuff, and then once you cross into the technical realm, then things start to get real shaky. There should never be a technical black metal sub-genre. This is quite enough, thanks. Still quite discernible as black metal with maybe a few technical leanings here and there, but borderline excessive. And just when things even think about starting to get dull, a striking lead or a series of WTF riffs to keep you locked in like eyes on ass… Some of this stuff sounds like music you'd wanna play over a thousand loud speakers to try and persuade alien invaders into thinking that we're a lot more powerful and advanced then we look. Other parts like the guitar solos in "Halcyon Memory: Dreamscapes Across The Blue" are more like what you'd play as the soundtrack to a blissful skydive. As moving as it is entertaining and downright mind-boggling at some points is Beyond Obsidian Euphoria.

There's a whole lot to appreciate here. If you dislike prog then you'll hate it, but I think the majority of enthusiasts will be on board for the musicianship alone. People are literally butchering black metal these days, but this doesn't feel that way. Too much soul and passion. Much talent but also much of the writer's self was put into this work. If it's not meaningful then it's not black metal and Tómarúm understands this sentiment. It can get a bit exhausting after a while, sure, but damn if it's not fascinating. I wouldn't waste too much time in search of what's catchy, because Beyond Obsidian Euphoria is, as I mentioned before, about transcendence in both sound and concept. To live a life free of the harsh dictatorships of mental and emotional afflictions? That would make you a rarity. Might as well sit back and soak in all that depression and trauma. After all, it produces such agreeable music. To the prog! To the black and to Tómarúm - one of the many austere faces behind the modern black metal revolution.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Chris Pratl on February 21, 2018.

It seems that some noise is being made out of Arizona by way of a quintet called Sick Black Automatic. Admittedly, the name initially threw me off; I was sure it was going to be some rudimentary bounce-around rap-metal or screamo jargon that would send me running for an ice pick to insert into my ears. I must admit, I was happily surprised when I visited the band's Facebook page and saw some live samples that showcased some energetic metal that puts a nice dent into the mainframe of an often sterile modern day scene.

The band's CD, Caught in the Black, arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and already I've listened to it a few times. There are some catchy tunes to be had here. To be even more honest, the live clips I saw didn't do much to overly impress in terms of the vocals, but having been around this block some 35-plus years I know well enough to never put first-impression stock in any live clips captured haphazardly through hand-held celluloid. The CD has a much better platform for vocalist Norm Carrier, whose bellowing yell is not quite a death metal growl, but far removed from the artificial wailing between clean tone crooning and screaming lethargy often found in any pissant mall metal band.

As the term was adopted by and posthumously ruined by Pantera, I hasten to label anything “groove metal,”  but I must admit that if you were to assign such a label to anything and have it actually fit the mood, Sick Black Automatic captures it. While not as volatile and predictable as the aforementioned Texas bunch, SBA has assembled within its core a tempestuous, well-produced sound that dispels any notion of safety and hesitation. This album allows the music to lead the way, headlong into the sobering reality of life and all of its pitfalls. “Weapons of War,” a red flag-waving slap to the face that calls out the current state of a nation perilously in danger from its own carelessness and ambivalence. While growing up in the late 70's and all through the metal of the 80's, the fantastical side of a lyrical delivery was always most enjoyable for me; the evil and dark side of life that was both biblical and horrifying by imagined design was what moved me. What SBA does is present the facts and figures to you in the most definitive musical fashion without relying on preachy parlor tricks or boring, stagnant cut-and-paste jobs. Lyrics that make one think...ah, what will stir the lulled masses accordingly?

Musically, the band is a tight unit, playing nicely off one another and finding that coveted “pocket” in each song that is both rare and difficult to maintain. The dual guitar attack, a seemingly forbidden art form these days, screams less Judas Priest or Iron Maiden and more Lamb of God in its design, not worrying much about stylish solos or jazzy-Jones time changes. SBA is a gathering of talented guys with their collected finger  on the pulse of what passes for solid, entertaining metal music, another all-too distant remedy in today's often mundane climate. In an age where genres and their various sub-genres rule the mental abacuses of too many a critic, it's refreshing to see a band that not only doesn't fit into one set pigeon-hole, but manages to refute the modern assumption that without one you're devoid of position.

Every once in a while, a band comes along and challenges your senses. You cast a random middle finger to the “norm(s)” and just delve far inside the music filling your chosen space. Sick Black Automatic provides a staunch, no-holds glimpse into the psyche of the working man's view of a world that is far from Utopian, but not quite ruination. If you're so inclined to tap into the recesses of a reality not usually shown on network news, press play and ascend.

Rating: 9 out of 10