Tides "Resurface" CD
[Teenage Disco Bloodbath]
Damn, I'm liking this. Six tracks, but it ain't no fuckin' EP, kids. Instead you'll get damn near 50 minutes of slow, sludgy, noisy yet melodic material from this instrumental New York trio. Think along the lines of Pelican, Isis, Burst, Switchblade, and some of that cascading, droning sort of textural stuff that's been increasing in popularity as of late. The title track kicks things off with 12 minutes of repetitious pounding that never abandons melody, be it through the pulsing basslines backing the ebbing and flowing guitar noises and drones, creatively arranged power chords/clean passages, or low level ambient hums. This basically sets the tone for the entire record, granted there are definitely notable moments elsewhere that give the tracks their own characteristics. The percussion is nice and fluid and knows its role, laying the foundation for the other instruments and refraining from getting too crazy, but definitely spicing things up with slick fills and constant movement rather than sticking with stagnant patterns. There are definitely a lot of nice subtleties going on with this one, most notably with the rhythm section, but the guitars as well, and such carefully executed details do make a difference. "By the Droves", the shortest track at four minutes, is a nice clean segment over distant swells of feedback, but the riffs aren't typical at all, there's a nice sense of twisted southern rock or something going on, just barely, though the tone of the piece is really pretty somber - it's not a "rock" type of thing at all. This leads into the similarly executed "Aurora", where the sinister clean guitars are joined by bass and drums for a slow build into a surging distorted rhythm reminiscent of the earlier moments in the title track. "Sirens Fade" is another "shorter" composition (still more than five minutes) that revolves around subdued clean guitars and eerily winding feedback with sparse bass and drums; whereas closer "The Other Shore" (another five-minute run) uses faintly distorted bass behind odd clean riffs that use weird bends and pull-offs to create a different vibe. However, the two are separated by "Wash Away", which kicks in immediately with one of the most straightforward and chunky rhythms on the disc, dropping back to winding basslines and reverberated clean notes three minutes in. Around three minutes later, though, things are back to the pumping distortion and staccato arrangements, so it's interesting to note that with this band, at least on this album, the longer songs are always the strongest and most dynamic compositions - using hypnotic repetition and delicate pacing to keep things interesting. I have no complaints with the sound quality, either. They seem to use overdubs somewhat sparingly on the guitar parts (or at least they're careful about how they mix them in), so oftentimes they allow the fact that they're a trio to work to their benefit by giving the basslines plenty of room to roam around while treating the drums as an equally important and active element. This is especially helpful considering the fact that the basslines are oppressively thick, but they retain enough definition (thanks to that spaciousness) to where they're very focal in most cases. The drums sound aptly natural, which is essential for this style of music, and the guitars sound great in all forms. The disc is handsomely packaged in a minimal brown chipboard digipack with a matter finish, printed in dark brown ink to keep the color scheme simple. Most of the images are somewhat abstracted shots of eyes and hands, with handwritten text employed in most cases. Nice work. In no way would I align this band with the whole "stoner rock" thing, but there are enough influences seeping in to where I'd recommend this as much to fans of said style as I would to those who enjoy the earlier mentioned artists, as well as that particular style of rising and falling guitar noise. With regards to the latter approach, I personally am already growing somewhat tired of that stuff, but what I like about Tides' use of those influences is that they don't build their entire band on that premise, it's simply used as a tactful accent to what they do best - which is create interestingly melodic tunes that are still dark and aggressive, certainly possessing plenty of feeling and force. So this is definitely one to look out for down the road, I'm into it. (7/10)
Running time - 48:32, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Resurface, Aurora, Wash Away]
Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records - http://www.tdbrecords.com

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