Review by Sam on February 21, 2026.

If ever there was a band that got its name absolutely right in terms of describing what that band should sound like, Towering of France is it. Inhuman drumming, combative guitar work, and a suffocating, oppressive atmosphere, coupled with epic song lengths, contribute to the monolithic nature of the soundscapes created by these death metallers. The abhorrent, viscous, and vile vocals of frontman Tom J. Silver are coated with just enough reverb to re-emphasize the effect on the listener that the infernal Frenchman have set out to achieve.

It’s a bit difficult to come up with applicable comparisons for Towering, but if I had to make a wager, I’d say these guys are probably big fans of Immolation, with "Close To A World Below" seeming apropos, but minus the dissonance and odd meters that album is famous for. That’s an album that has an undeniable bigness to it, and bigness is a good way to categorize the aura of The Oblation Of Man. From the onset of the first track, entitled 'Asceticism', the intentions are clear: these dudes aim to swallow you whole with their death metal machine. Once the feral velocity of Mortem’s blasting onslaught fully kicks in, you get the feeling that you are being catapulted into the abyss via the hatred that oozes from these musicians. It was the French philosopher Sartre who famously said, “hell is other people.” I will say here that hell is Towering, a portal to the obsidian vastness of the underworld.

With 'Shattering Individuality', the warfare between the blast beats, warp speed double bass, tremolo-picked insanity, and the barbaric bestiality of Silver’s voice, the listener truly feels submerged in the ensemble’s all-out misanthropy. I don’t even have access to Towering’s lyrics, but there is no doubt in my mind that these dudes hate me, you, Macron, Trump, Santa Claus… they fuckin hate everyone. This music is one hundred percent oppressive, and its endgame is to flatten your will to live.

'Herald Of The Black Sun' (killer song title!) dials up the intensity to eleven as the demoniac devastation of Mortem approaches otherworldly levels of chaos. This is a death metal band, but throughout this work, there is a distinct blackening to be heard. Though the defining characteristic of the vocals is pure, unadulterated hatred, the register of his malaise dwells in a middle ground between the low gutturals of death and the rasping of black metal. Every song creates a feeling of a liturgy for the damned, taking place deep within the cavernous recesses of the accursed chasm.

The Oblation Of Man is concluded with the ironically titled 'Embraced Atonement', I say ironic because nothing about this work suggests that Towering seeks to be forgiven. For anything. This is easily the most hellish formation of the entire record. The kick drums, already playing in an uptempo 6/8 meter, come at you in unfathomable 32nd note annihilation. At about the seven-minute mark, the double bass explodes into a start-stop pattern of mini-eruptions, before returning to the sustained impetuousness that unifies the album. The guitars and vocals unite in a menacing miasma of antipathy to damn your soul eternally. Beware this place. 

Rating: 8.5 of 10 Black Suns