Interview with Luigi & Luca of Tombal

Tombal is an Italian old-school death metal band with Swedish death metal style characterized by a consistent HM-2 chainsaw-driven guitar tone (Heavily inspired by the HM-2's fierce and sharpness) Tombal is more reminiscent to the Swedish style for some fans Tombal is the Italian Dismemeber or Bloodbath

 Released on June 12, 2026, "Grave of the Damned" is the debut EP that carves the way for a relentless aggression and ferocity forged in death, rot and decay, The EP was released by Blood Harvest Records, while Unholy Domains handles the cassette edition.

1-First of all, thank you for taking part in this interview and congratulation for your new EP Grave of the Damned, I just wanted to ask a bit about the origins of the band (introduce Tombal to the readers), since 2025. How was the songwriting process divided across the course of all these years, was it spread out or product of a very short time frame when time allowed it?

Luigi: Hi! First of all, thank you very much for inviting us to this interview. Tombal was born in August 2025 from an idea I had been carrying with me for a long time: to form a pure old-school Swedish death metal band, as I've always been passionate about that sound, especially the HM-2 tone. So I contacted Luca, an incredibly talented drummer, and Massimiliano on bass to form the band. After letting them hear what I had in mind, they both accepted immediately, and that's how Tombal was born. I wrote our first single, Grave of the Damned, which was released shortly afterwards on YouTube. After that, I composed all the remaining songs for the EP. Luca recorded the drums in Basilicata, while Massimiliano and I completed the rest of the recordings here in Sardinia. All of this happened in roughly six months. In the meantime, I also contacted Mario, our second guitarist, and he joined Tombal without hesitation. We're already working on our first full-length album and we'll be back in the studio very soon.

2-What can you tell us about your line up, and will you introduce other members?

Luca: Tombal consists of Luigi Cara on guitar and vocals, Massimiliano Falchi on bass, Mario Tamponi on guitar, and myself, Luca Barone, on drums. No, we have no plans to add any new members, as the band is now complete. Besides being musicians united by our passion for extreme metal, we're also a close group of friends.

3- What do you think of the worldwide metal and extreme scene today, are you against modern metal styles who invaded the old school metal scene? 

Luigi: To be honest, we always prefer the old-school approach, not only in death metal but in heavy metal in general, because we believe it's the truest and most natural sound you can hear, not only in terms of production but also in attitude and the way the music is played. At the same time, I also listen to newer bands, not really modern metal, but modern death metal, and there are so many bands absolutely crushing it, especially here in Italy

4- What’s your mainly inspiration to compose and How do you write your music? Is there a set guideline or do you write what you feel as you go along?

Luca: Every member of the band brings their own influences, of course. We're definitely inspired by bands like Dismember, Interment, Grave and Entombed. However, that's never a limitation for us as we don't copy anyone and we don't follow any strict guideline. We always try to follow our own natural path, both in songwriting and in finding the sound we want to achieve

5- You released a single Grave of the Damned on the 22nd of January, 2026 from your new E.P Grave of the Damned via Blood Harvest Records so can you tell us about the inspiration behind the album concept and influences?

Luigi: As I said before, the Italian scene is in great shape. It's full of death metal bands that absolutely crush, including bands that have become really successful, like Fulci. But even the darker, more underground side of death metal is full of incredibly strong bands. The same goes for Sardinia: there are many great bands here, especially black metal bands, including some that are deeply connected to Sardinian traditions. There aren't as many death metal bands, but the ones we do have are all excellent.

Luca: Everything started with the release of our self-titled single. From the very beginning, we wanted to write direct, uncompromising songs with a strong impact, creating a violent yet natural, slightly raw sound that allowed us to achieve exactly what we were looking for. From that single, we built the rest of the EP by following the same natural direction and keeping the same intensity we wanted to express. Although it's not a concept release, the lyrics are connected by a common thread revolving around death, destruction, rot and decay. As I mentioned before, our influences remain the same, but they never limit our songwriting. We simply follow what feels most natural to us.

6-Are you satisfy with your label and witch label fit to your music?

Luigi: Yes, we're very satisfied with the work both Blood Harvest and Unholy Domain have done. Everything has been going really well with our labels so far, and we're already working on the full-length, even though several other labels have also contacted us showing a strong interest in Tombal. 

7-What about themes in the lyrics?

Luca: As I mentioned before, the main themes we deal with are death, decay and rot. They perfectly reflect the concept behind the name Tombal.

8- About the album artwork, did you do the cover for " Grave of the Damned " yourself ?

Luigi: The artwork was created by Valeria Foddanu, a very talented tattoo artist from Sardinia. She perfectly captured everything we had in mind and brought it to life flawlessly.

9-How would you describe your style of music?

Luca: It's definitely old-school death metal, Swedish death metal forged through aggression, violence and a completely uncompromising approach, combined with a raw and powerful sound.

10- What are some of your non-musical influences?

Luigi: Outside of music, my biggest influence comes from old-school horror movies. I also draw inspiration from them when writing some of the lyrics.

11-Did you send your record to some promo and webzines?

Luca: Yes. For the most part, our label handled the promotion through magazines and zines.

12-Any fav bands to get on stage with? ,any future gigs or fest  ?

Luigi: We'd love to share the stage with bands that have a great attitude and, above all, with good people we can spend great moments with. We already have confirmed shows and festival appearances, and we're currently working on a European tour that will support the release of our first full-length album alongside a great Italian death metal band.

13-Do you have any references or influences from horror/ gore, slasher movies, or Italian *Giallo*? I’m a huge fan……Italy really excels at this kind of cinema, like the movies of Fulci?

Luca: As Luigi mentioned earlier, films, especially horror films, are a major source of inspiration for our lyrics. To name a few, we love The Exorcist (the original one), Evil Dead, and Splatters-Gli Schizzacervelli. 

14- Do you already have things in the plans after the release of Grave of the Damned any album? Touring? or Split Ep's in the horizon?

Luigi: Yes, Luca is about to enter the studio to record the drum tracks, and I think by October the album will already be ready for pressing. Right after that, we'll begin a strong promotional campaign with live shows, tours and festivals, all managed by our booking agency, Occult Booking. We're really in great shape at the moment.

15- What is the biggest change compared to the debut before before releasing your first EP?

Luca: Compared to our debut EP, the full-length definitely features more structured songs. We've introduced more tempo changes that we enjoy experimenting with, and in a couple of tracks we've incorporated the classic Swedish d-beat. However, the impact and aggression will continue exactly where Grave of the Damned left off.

16- To conclude, if you have any closing thoughts you want to say about the record the next of Tombal, band or old school death metal at large

Luigi: I'd like to thank you for the interview, and all our fans and friends for the incredible support they've shown us from the very beginning. We can't wait to play live and for you to hear what we have in store with the release of our first full-length album.

Death Metal Is Alive!