TOWERING MASS: UNTO THE SWAMP EVERLASTING EP REVIEW
Towering Mass is a solo Death-Doom Project from Naarm/Melbourne artist Gordon Brown, debuting in May of 2026 with their EP 'The Cornerstone of Mouldering Ruins'. Towering Mass is back with their second EP 'Unto The Swamp Everlasting' featuring Vocalist Conor White. With a combination of Death and Doom Metal with Jazz inflections, you know we are in for an interesting time, so let's dive in to it. Summoning, From the brown and muddy froth. Call upon me, To rise as a witness. Mortal aeons, Born of passion’s demise. Soul devoid, Of flesh, bone and marrow. The first track for the EP is Over The River on Funeral Banners. From the moment the track begins you are on edge, with low and off-putting guitars, jarring cymbals and a bass drum rhythm that sounds like
a ticking clock, the whole effect creating an environment of being chased down a dank alley. The track switches in tempo, increasing the pressure and unease before moving to a low, slow and overwhelming feeling that had something catching in my chest while I listened. The Jazz inspiration takes hold in the middle of the track, adding an eerie tone to the soundscape, with twinkling cymbals and groove style guitar. By the end of the track you are left in the feeling of taking part in a funeral march, being called to the graveyard of society by Conor, with his ominous and grinding vocals. During the first listen through, I thought there were some disjointed transition issues towards the beginning of the track, however after several more listens I completely understood how the rapid shifting styles were being used to create an atmospheric shift. Everyone gathered round to watch the funeral banner rise. Above the gloam it hands, watching over the loathsome embers. Stitched within it peers, mocking my former meek existence. Hanging for what was once alluring, now a symbol of caustic waste.
"Lyrically and thematically, Towering Mass is fixated on the city — its duality of grandeur and rot." says Gordon. "Songs move between the glory of urban life, its energy, ambition, soaring skylines, and the decay lurking beneath: isolation, deterioration, and the slow collapse of the structures we build."
Eternally, The city sky is rent asunder. Imperiously, Blistered fog suffocates the masses. Chilling mistrals gale. A frozen wasteland descends. Once shone bright, Detritus of the urban myth. Next up is A Cold Wind That Blows Before And After Time, and a rapidly different style of music. A Cold Wind begins with Jazz style drums and bass that takes root throughout the track, pushing a feeling of bustling life into the music. The song shows the diversity of Gordon's Musical skill as you are taken
on a chaotic journey of Jazz and Death Metal. With an abundance of rapid tempo and style shifts you are left holding onto the edge of your seat of the roller coaster that is the melody. The track ends abruptly as if a life support machine has been turned off leaving you disorientated and unsure what to do next. I am not too proud to say that while I understand A Cold Wind speaks on the complete ruin of life as we know it through complacency and and a selfish hunt to fulfil your desires, I was taken in by the Gojira-esk groove and the overall musicality, and could not escape it's clutches. I had to force myself to switch tracks, as if I was held in a purgatory of needing to hear the sound and could not move on to continue what was important, which honestly, might be the whole point. Beckoning me, For reigning devastation, Sacrifice, All that once sustained, Resurrection, Upon a concrete desert, Shapely embers blowing, Through erstwhile belfries, Implicated in its end, We glare into the gusts, The end has become, Bonded to our past.
"While much of the modern death-doom scene gravitates toward cavernous, atmospheric weight, Towering Mass treads a sonically diverse path: memorable, hooky riffs built on jazz-infused time signatures and extended guitar chords, lending the music a sense of unconventional harmony and idiosyncratic melody less often explored in the genre" Gordon Says.
An object of hatred, naturally abhorred. Stare of vacancy, decrepit façade. Blanketed eyes, and boarded portals. A dwelling of old, its sanctity defiled. Cast in eminence, majesty undone. Seraphic entity, mouldering walls. The Finale of the EP is the track The Crumpled Packs Fled Past This Ghost In Bloom; which begins with an impressively low and solid tunnel from Conor, setting the tone for what is to come. The first half of Crumpled had me in a state of brain fog, before rapidly clearing as the song opens up and I was able to take in a breath. If I were to describe this song in only
two words they would be "oppressively heavy". Sharp cymbals cut through the air like a whip, as the bass shifting tempos make you feel like you are losing your balance and falling into the inescapable mud. Crumpled is artfully disorientating making it difficult to put my thoughts into a coherent sentence. The song as whole created a picture in my mind of a person being held under the murky water by the elitist boot, and once given the reprieve of "fresh" air, being shown a world that has become a desolate and broken wasteland; all while being told that this environment is "humanity's ideal outcome" from behind the gilded walls protecting the ruling class. Monstrous simulacrum befallen. Blighted store left on the frothing alleyways. Soul-reaping betrayal of glorious purpose. The masses crumple onwards, oblivious.
Unto The Swamp Everlasting is a whirlwind from beginning to end, with an ever shifting musical palate that will have you in the dark of where you will be dragged next. Gordon and Conor create three completely different environments throughout the EP, however, the music flows together from one track to the next like a river through a raging storm, chaotic, disorientating and frightening, yet, cohesive and one tremendous force of nature. The EP gives three different glimpses into urban society, with commentary on what the general populace are willing to endure, look away from and do to keep hold of their piece of urban bliss.
You can find Towering Mass on: Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Youtube and Instagram
For Fans Of: Immolation, Imperial Triumphant, Gojira and Hooded Menace
9/10
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