Mike Hill is not a man interested in appeasing his existing audience or modifying the music he makes in the hope of luring in a broader one. Anyone doubting this needs only to look to the recorded output Tombs has dropped over the past decade, which while ultimately remaining rooted in the blackened, post-metallic sound vomited up on 2007's self-titled EP has constantly diversified and evolved. With The Grand Annihilation, Tombs' fourth full-length and Metal Blade debut, this tradition is maintained, and in many ways it is the most epic, ambitious, emotionally and tonally varied of the band's career, which is very much borne out in the subject matter. "The title comes from the idea of destroying the current world to open the door for the new world," Hill states. "The Hindus tap into this cyclical nature of the universe. The idea of Kali Ma, destroying the universe to create a new reality is a key theme both in a more universal sense and also on a personal level of destroying your own personal worlds to create a new chapter."
