“If it were up to me I’d have unlimited numbers of people in the band; strings, keyboards, three guitar players and so on, but that can’t happen. However, for the first time in the history of TOMBS there has been a collaboration between band members. It’s not just me writing everything. It’s a big difference from The Grand Annihilation which was basically a solo record.”

The title track commences with an elegant, studded glove to the chops as guitars scream and wail in rapid fire agony with corpse paint doused in your favourite flammable liquid and ignited by tensile tremolo picking. All this before a denouement wrapped in post-punk forays, elegiac crawls and spine tingling vocals.

“That’s my favourite track on the record!” he exclaims. “I think it really flexes all the muscles and demonstrates everything we can do. There’s fast drumming, black metal riffing, a CELTIC FROST beatdown in there, there are synthesizers and electronics and a death rock thing at the end. It’s a thumbnail of what the band is about.”

The riffing in “Once Fall the Guillotine” rips like an icy pick axe through complacency and orthodoxy before a melodic excursion that’s equal parts face planting off a sticky bar room floor and a liberating soaring through chilled mountain air, while “Necro Alchemy” blazes with a neck-snapping ferocity and anthemic charm.

As Monarchy of Shadows continues, it becomes evident that TOMBS is bristling with a combination of ages-old anger and newfound energy. “Man Behind the Sun” included obvious nods to Andrew Eldritch and Carl McCoy in its closing sections, while “Dark Rift” is awash with ambitious hanging chords and keyboard swells with those detours, as inspiring as they are, being understated, insidious and never detracting from the band’s blackened, monolithic mission.

“That one is very much a collaborative track,” Hill says of the latter piece. “Justin wrote the first half, guitar parts and all, and I wrote the second half and lyrics then everyone layered in their own interesting parts that added a lot of dimension and atmosphere to the song.”

After spending his entire adult life navigating the pitfalls and pratfalls of the industry for expressive and creative opportunity, Hill has amassed an impressive legacy, one that Monarchy of Shadows contributes to admirably. With his status as underground lifer and veteran, one might expect Hill to approach another new lineup and, in Season of Mist, another new record label with a cautious, if not irascibly jaded shoulder shrug. However, there’s a palpable excitement in his voice when he talks about the future; his view being that of TOMBS heading towards a bright horizon with all the necessary components in place and all guns firing.

“I’m playing with excellent players who are on the same creative page and have introduced elements that weren’t obvious to me which ended up expanding the band’s sound. I feel like the music and this incarnation of the band is a lot more powerful because there’s a personal investment from all the members. We have a label behind us that understands what we’re about aesthetically and is used to working with bands like ours. There’s a new, more thoughtful and collaborative approach to song writing and I feel that this EP is the strongest record of the band’s history. It’s another growth period for TOMBS.”