Entry 679 - Opeth - Damnation

Style: Progressive rock

Primary Emotions/Themes: Loss, loneliness, contemplations

Thoughts: There are very few essential albums that I need to acquire for my vinyl collection. These are albums that I've been listening to for years and rank highly on my personal best lists. Opeth's first foray into progressive rock was one of the big ones I was missing. No longer.

I remember being a bit cautious about this album when it first was announced. Opeth was a brutal band back then, they were the face of good death metal vocals for me. They wrote beefy riffs that had a progressive bent to them. How on earth would they do with a pure progressive rock album?

Fortunately that question was answered quickly with the opener Windowpane. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about with the shift in style. In fact this felt more like an expansion of the acoustic songs that the band had done in nearly every album prior to this.

There are a few differences here though. This is not a purely acoustic album, this is solidly a progressive rock album. That means electric guitars with and without distortion, keyboards, and progressive drumming. Mike's voice is in top form here, in fact I would argue that his cleans have never sounded better than on Damnation.

The songs on here range from "Opeth without distortion" to songs that sound like lullaby's to the the meek and barely there closer Weakness. The songs have also been paired down from the normal song length of Opeth. Instead of ten minute epics the longest song on here is seven minutes, with most falling between three and five minutes long.

The shorter songs lead to a couple of interesting changes in style as well. The riffs are not repeated nearly as often as the typical Opeth song, in fact they rarely repeat at all. The band explores more variety in their song writing here in a shorter amount of time than they ever had in the past. That's a lot considering the band's history.

Damnation is a fascinating album, and one that show's what Opeth was capable of during their golden age. I think that this album is last album in their discography that I would consider essential. Between this and Deliverance Opeth delivered their final truly great albums. Now if we could only get the sister album reissued on vinyl as well the world would be a better place.

Written February 1st 2024

Entry 678 - Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor

Style: Rock, rock, AOR

Primary Emotions/Themes: Violence, anti-religion, self improvement, self destruction

Thoughts: Last I heard Manson before this was Mechanical Animals. The previous efforts were largely shock rock with a few good singles. The Pale Emperor is quite different. It's slower, more deliberate, more mature.

There have been a LOT of changes here. Instead of 15+ songs on the album ranging all over the place in quality, we have ten focused songs. Instead of nearly eighty minutes of music, we have a comfortable 50 minutes. Instead of the quality of the music ranging from excellent to downright unlistenable, we have a slower, more focused style that draws heavily from Manson's past but throws in a strong helping of blues and classic rock and roll.

The Pale Emperor is a different Manson than the one I am used to. It's like he took a long look in the mirror and wanted to take this record seriously... put some time in for fewer but higher quality songs rather just throwing whatever shit the band has prepared onto the record. There is a refinement here that wasn't here in the past. 

Granted I haven't listened to a Manson album in over a decade prior to this one. This is a welcome change, as the early stuff was truly hit or miss with me. 

The major theme on this record is slower guitar oriented songs. Of course Manson's voice is front and center, and his rough, almost winy voice is still instantly recognizable. Much like in the past he's really good at channeling his voice to show a wide variety of emotions. 

In the opening song Killing Strangers we already get a large sampling of what's to come: low crooning with a bit of twang, rough - almost shouted vocals that sound strained, and outright aggressive vocals to accentuate the more forceful parts of the song. As much as Manson is recognizable here, its also obvious that he has aged, but also matured in the way that he handles his voice. It's a clear highlight of the album.

The music itself is guitar oriented but not in the same distorted semi-metal way that the earlier stuff was. Distortion is rare in the album, most of the time the album has a blues influence overdrive on the guitar or uses a clean tone. When the distortion does come in it's more to accentuate a point. 

Ten songs, not a dud among them. Anything from the rocker Deep Six to the atmospheric and almost doomy Warship My Wreck. The album is just under an hour long and that's a perfect length for something like this. Manson has refined his sound into something way better than what he was during the peak of his popularity - I'll take this version of him over the early stuff any day.

Written February 1st 2024

Entry 677 - Sam Smith - Live at Abbey Road Studios

 

Style: Vocal driven pop

Primary Emotions/Themes: Gay anthems, love, loss, romance

Thoughts: "We're gonna turn Abbey Road into a gay bar." This phrase is uttered by one Sam Smith to set the tone for one of the songs in this live recording in the legendary Abbey Road studios. 

We all talk about guilty pleasures from time to time. Sam Smith is undoubtedly one of mine. I mean who doesn't like a self important pop singer who is super out of touch with reality but creates some banging tunes? As much as I despise the self important stories I hear of Sam, the music he creates and his voice are actually something I truly enjoy.

Sam's voice is the main star. He has a high pitched yet incredibly nuanced tone to his singing voice that few people can replicate. In the live setting this comes out even more than it does in the studio albums. The music itself is there to compliment him and the guest singers to the maximum effect. 

There is something to be said about the music using real instruments in this time and age. This is a bit of a rare gem, with most pop using highly process electronic music and vocals. There is an honesty here that is pretty rare these days. I don't hear any effects on Sam's voice and the instrumentation matches this... this is about as clean as it can get for a pop star. 

There's something about the music and how it grooves... the opener - Diamonds - has an absolutely infectious chorus that just makes me want to bob my head and vibe. This is a theme throughout the album, it's just feel good music (lyrics aside).

When Sam goes to reach those high notes sometimes it gives me shivers, the dude can really sing. When Sam sings in his deeply subtle tone that is barely audible it makes me close my eyes and contemplate life. Listen to the entirely of My Oasis and try to tell me that the guy can't sing... if you do I'll think you're lying. 

Sam Smith is a bit out of the normal for what I listen to, but often I need a break from my normal shit. This is exactly that. This album is like a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup on a cold day, a glass of cold water after a day of hard labor... it's refreshing. 

Written January 31st 2024

Entry 676 - Decoherence - Order

Style: Dissonant black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Order through insanity, quantum mechanics

Thoughts: Decoherence is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where the math begins to break down. It's a way of describing a particle such as an electron when it can no longer be described in a wave form. The math gets incredibly complex and is way over my head so I'm not going to begin to describe it here.

I mention all of this because the music that Decoherence the band plays is very much along the same lines as the quantum mechanics version. It is complex, it is obtuse and it is incredibly difficult to wrap my head around.

I hear individual instruments, I heard different comings and goings but much of what's happening simply did not register on the first listen. It feels like I'm listening to the musical equivalent of an alien trying to communicate with the human race and having no idea where to even start. 

I can't stress this enough, this is s t r a n g e music. It's not as hard to follow as some dissonant music but it certainly is up there. The riffs have this sense that they are just slightly off from what they should be. They never quite match up to any known chords even though they do get close from time to time. 

There is no discernible melody throughout the album, only a progression of chords (if you can call it that) that again sound aberrant. These chords range between slower and more atmospheric moments to a flurry of quick riffs that are nearly impossible to follow. The end result is a highly chaotic yet incredibly atmospheric sound. 

The vocals and drums are much more in line with expectations than anything the stringed instruments are doing. The vocals are a half shout half scream half screech that overlays the music with incomprehensible mutterings. The drums are by far the most "normal" thing on this record. They alter between blast beats and slower beats that fit the music disturbingly well. They are the anchor that my mind grabs on to so that I'm not completely swept away in the insanity that is this record.

Order is a bit of an ironic name. This is not order in any sense of what most humans would consider it. There does appear to be an order to the music, but much like my understanding of the more obscure principles of quantum mechanics my brain fails to fully understand what is going on here. 

Written January 31st 2024

Entry 675 - Space Afrika - Honest Labour

Style: Experimental hip hop, ambient, instrumental

Primary Emotions/Themes: City life and soundscapes

Thoughts: What a wonderful and strange find this was. It was nearly a blind buy, having only heard a few samples of the album - something I rarely if ever do. Regardless I broke almost all my rules and picked this one up without hearing it. 

When it went on my turntable I wasn't sure what direction the music was going to take. The samples I heard seemed like a bizarre mix of ambient and hip hop, and that's largely what this album is all about.

The music contained within Honest Labour has a distinctly urban feel to it. I can easily see myself driving to this on a rainy night or walking along city streets with this in my head phones. The instruments used have a beautiful mix of blurring the lines of electronic and acoustic music, and the song structures (when present) have a deep roots in urban oriented hip hop.

Most of the album is purely instrumental and contains little to nothing in the way of traditional song structures. The title track for instance revolves around a simple piano "riff" that is repeated throughout the entirety of the song. It is built upon by an analog synth that creates backing chords and is soon followed by a violin drenched in reverb. More and more layers are added in to create a warm yet somehow lonely feeling in the middle of the album.

The opener has a distant female voice that is covered by various soundscapes and urban field recordings. There is no real structure or meter to this song. Rather it's merely samples that are being phased in and out of existence as the song progresses. Much like you would be passing people on the street, you see them for a instant and then they are forgotten.

When there are vocals the album (Such as B£E) the music shifts slightly. The vocals are undoubtedly the focus of this song, and the music has a fundamental shift. There is a distant drumbeat that is often broken up between meters and minimalistic city noises to accompany. Everything comes together to form a loose amalgamation of a song but it's as distant and obscure as the rest of the album. It's only towards the end of the song where orchestral samples come into to provide any semblance of melody. It's a fascinating take on hip hop and I'm going to be looking for more music like this in the future.

Space Afrika reminds me a lot of another band that I chanced upon a few years ago: Dive Reflex Service. It's a mix of obscure ambience mixed with sparse vocals and structure. Both of these projects have created albums that fascinate me to no end. I only wish I knew what this stuff was called so I could dive deeper into the rabbit hole. In the mean time I suppose this will have to suffice.

Written January 31st 2024

Entry 674 - Trauma Center - Second Opinion

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Hospitals, doctor's and patients, high stress situations

Thoughts: It's hard to think of games that used the Nintendo gimmicks better than the Trauma Center games put out by Atlas years ago. The first one used the dual screens and touch pad to the fullest on the DS, and this game used the Wii pointer function better than most games out at the time - including first party titles.

The whole idea is that you have the ability to slow down time to make precision cuts when absolutely needed. Mix this with a compelling story that is way bigger than just another copy of Gray's Anatomy and you get a damn good game. 

Compelling gameplay and compelling story are made or broken by the music that accompanies them. I'm happy to report that Trauma Center delivers on that front as well. The music is varied and contains a myriad of moods, but they all work well within the context of the game - and work reasonably well as a stand alone soundtrack as well.

This game was composed at the height of what I consider the "video game sound." It's 100% synthesized, and it still retains a lot of the foundation work that was set out by chip tunes a decade earlier. It's the last few moments in time before games started pulling in real instruments and orchestras to do the soundtracks. It's the last and perhaps the best moments where video game music was still instantly recognizable as video game music.

This is seen perfectly in the episode select screen. It's a piano playing over some synthesized strings with a nice beat played in the background. It feels like I should be thinking about what decisions I'm going to be making. There is no real pressure here but the decision is important none the less. I love how the music portrays this perfectly without the need for bombast being injected in just because it's the thing to do.

I love music like this. I love it when video game music excels at being itself with no pretenses of being anything else. It has one job and that's to immerse the player in the game. Trauma Center does this to a masterful degree. It hones the emotions of the game at key moments and acts as a catalyst to drive the players emotions throughout the game. One of those rare soundtracks that does exactly what it should do and nothing more. 

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 673 - Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat

Style: Black metal, doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Philosophical, literal satanism

Thoughts: Deathspell Omega have hardly ever been content to rest on their laurels. They have constantly evolved, except for a few notable moments in their career.  The Long Defeat is merely the band's next evolution.

Where to start with this one? Do I start by saying that the band seems to be moving on from their long time vocalist? How about discussing how the band has taken their signature sound and slowed it down to the point where it could be considered black/doom metal? How about discussing how the band has taken the brief ambient moments from the previous albums and expanded them to become a core part of their sound? 

All of those are equally good places to start, but the fact remains that the band has had a fundamental shift in style. I don't know if this is a one off effort or if this is signaling the new direction that Deathspell will take with future efforts as well. 

They have used the same vocalist since 2004 for all of their releases. The first pivot for The Long Defeat shows the band bringing in multiple other vocalists to support their art. This has a few interesting consequences. The music takes on an entirely new character. Mikko's vocals have been synonymous to Deathspell's sound as long as they have been of international relevance. 

While the music itself is recognizable as Deathspell there is a bit of cognitive dissonance with a vocalist other than Mikko Aspa performing. The music fits but the grating voice just isn't there to match. It's hardly bad, it's simply odd. It's like a part of the Deathspell identity sound has been forcibly replaced by other equally competent - yet different - replacements.

The music itself has also undergone a dramatic shift. It has been slowed down to a crawl by Deathspell standards. While the band is still content to blast throughout the album, the focus has shifted off of the blinding speed of the past. The major focus is a slow brooding atmosphere. This is extended by the expansion of the bands dark ambient experimentation. It's a significant change in style for the band, yet it still comes across as uniquely Deathspell. 

The Long Defeat is a curious album for me. On one hand it feels like a huge leap forward, and on the other it feels like regression. Deathspell have inadvertently abandoned their core sound with this album while evolving it further. I know that makes absolutely no sense when spelled out like that but it's the closest approximation that I can offer through text. 

The riffs are still unmistakably by the same band but the pacing and vocalist changes make for quite the oddity. The band continues to evolve and create music for no one but themselves. This is the best possible way to make music: no compromises.

Written January 29th 2023

Entry 672 - Deathspell Omega - The Furnaces of Palengiea

Style: Dissonant black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Philosophical themes

Thoughts: The instant this album starts the seasoned ear will know this is Deathspell Omega. Deathspell have an instantly recognizable guitar tone and riffing. They effortlessly combine overdrive and deep distortion inserted expertly with the melodic yet dissonant riffs. There is only one band that does this, they are Deathspell Omega.

The Furnaces of Palengiea is a bit of a return to form for the band. The previous album was short and unremarkable (outside of the excellent album title). It could have easily been considered an EP rather than a full length due to it's length. In fact the band has several EP's that are longer. Furnaces resolves all those conflicts and offers us what is the proper follow up to Paracletus.

Furnaces feels very much like a continuation of the style that was explored on Paracletus - chaos intermixed with melody and ambience. Furnaces has a sense of arrogance and reverence to it that few bands ever achieve. The way the riffs are constructed scream "we know that we are good, we know that we are one of the best bands doing this. If you think you can do better, prove it."

The music on Furnaces balances dissonance and melody on a razors edge. In one moment the band will be playing a riff that I have difficulty wrapping my head around. The next they have gone into a deeply melodic section - seemingly with no transition. That said, the band writes it's music with a deep reverence for melody. In fact I think that Furnaces may be the most melodic that the band has been in their dissonant era. 

These aren't traditional melodies per see, but they are hooks that bore their way into my head - and stay there. This is often paired with moments of the chaotic beauty. The combination will have the makings of an excellent album, but not nearly as innovative as we may have come to expect from the band.

Furnaces of Palengiea feels more like a refinement of Deathspell Omega's sound. The album feels immense and epic like the best of their works, but rather than building something new they have gone the route of the master blacksmith perfecting their art.

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 671 - Drudkh - Eternal Turn of the Wheel

Style: Hypnotic black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: History and people of Ukraine 

Thoughts: A dark wind blows from the east, a solitary guitar laments the violence that is to come. The sorrow and blood that will stain these lands is written in the chronicle of the Eternal Circle.

Drudkh are a spotty band with me. The first few albums were unlike anything I had ever heard before. The combination of atmosphere and mid paced hypnotic riffing was completely new to me. After a bit though, the band stopped releasing essential albums and the releases became less consistent.

Estrangement seemed uninspired, the acoustic album... while decent, was no where near the level that some of the acoustic work had been on the earlier albums. Microcosmos was excellent and the first proper use of blast beats in the bands history while maintaining the atmosphere of the first few albums.  Handful of Stars showed some interesting experimentation with overdrive and classic rock elements.

Eternal Turn of the Wheel was a bit of an oddball when it came out. I listened to it several times and it was forgettable. I've revisited it a few times and each time I have trouble remembering what happened during the albums run time. Even now I struggle to remember any specific riffs from the album.

What I do remember though is the excellent acoustic intro. It sets the stage for the album in a way that the early albums did. When the first proper song comes in is where things start to miss just a little bit with me. The music itself it quite well done and tries to capture the spirit of those first four albums. The slow hypnotic riffs, the sorrow filled vocals, the mid paced drumming (even if a lot of it is a blast beat). But it all is like a chaff to the wind, forgotten once it's time is passed.

When the music is playing I often find myself swept away by the compositions. Their ebb and flow take me to places I have no memory of. While that does mean that the album is largely forgettable it also means that I can relive the album for seemingly the first time every time I listen to it.

For example I'm about 5 minutes into the first real song and I forgot that there was an ambient section where the drums pull away and the keyboards take over. There is a slow riff that's playing in their place and it brings to mind some of the better moments of Autumn Aurora and the excellent melody work on that album. I completely forgot this existed and I love that I'm discovering it again.

The album is full of small moments like that, small sections here and there that remind me what Drudkh is capable of. Eternal Turn of the Wheel is not a bad album at all, it's just a forgettable one. That said I keep it around so that I can be surprised by the sections that do remind me of the glory days of the band. 

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 670 - The House of Fata Morgana

Style: Vocal, classical, video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Deeply sorrowful lamentations of life

Thoughts: :*Dons Morpheus glasses* What if I told you that there's a vinyl record that combines the vocal prowess of Nier with the musical dynamics and fragility of Gris? Would you be interested in such a record? I know I sure as hell would be.

I have not played House of Fata Morgana. I've been told by multiple people I need to, especially since I like visual novels. After hearing this... well it's moved way up my list of games to play.

All the songs on the 2 LP set are vocally driven. Specifically by an ethereal and enchanting female vocalist. Nier immediately came to mind when I put side A on. In Nier the vocals are the cornerstone of the music, everything revolves around the voice. In House of Fata Morgana it is very much the same, the music is an accompaniment to the voice. The voice is the beginning, it is the end, everything is done to make the vocals shine more.

Where the album differs itself is in its execution.  Instead of huge sweeping orchestral arrangements much of the music is minimalistic with only a voice and piano playing. This reminded me of the excellent soundtrack to Gris. Fata Moragana sounds like the beautiful child of both of these amazing soundtracks.

That's not to say that all of the music on here is fragile and slow. There are several tracks that are rather upbeat. These tracks act as a nice change of pace to the majority of the album. They also might act as a distraction for some. 

For me though where the album truly shines is when it gets at it's quiet and venerable. The female vocalist featured is absolutely incredible in these moments. The pure raw energy that she brings out in such a confined space is truly rare. 

When I first got this record I had never heard the music to the game and had no expectations. I was so surprised by the quality that I spun the record ad nauseum for three straight days - I actually think I burned myself out a bit on it. I'm revisiting it now and after a few weeks regained its impact on me. Time will tell, but as things stand now I believe that this may end up entering into the realm of the elite within the video game music genre.

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 669 - Assemblage 23 - Failure

Style: EBM, electronic

Primary Emotions/Themes: Failure, loss, sorrow

Thoughts: I've owned this album in one form or another since shortly after it's release. For a while in the early 2000's I got really into EBM (electronic body music) and Assemblage 23 was mentioned several times as one of the better recent entries into the genre.

I was doubly intrigued by this album because it was dedicated to Tim Shear's dad who had recently passed away. It's been a repeated observation of mine that music created from a deep and profound sense of loss ends up becoming the artists best work. 

When I first picked up Failure, I was pretty disappointment. The music sounded flat and the vocals were one dimensional. I wasn't sure where the hype was coming from, even after several listens. I put it back into it's case and didn't listen again for decades.

Fast forward to last year. Failure had a repress and it peaked my curiosity. I hadn't heard the album since it came out, maybe it would be something interesting to check out. I pulled the album up on the nearest streaming service and... well... was this the same album that I listened to 20 years ago?

Failure is an excellent example of early 2000's EBM. The songs are driving, the vocals are filled with passion and longing. The melodies and samples used are structured in unique ways that make me want to listen to the album multiple times in a row. The beats are intricate and with a wide variety of tempos. More importantly the songs know how long they need to be as to not overstay their welcome.

Songs like House on Fire are around the 160 bpm mark that are fantastic to drive at night to. This song in particular layers different electronic samples/instruments to create a sense of urgency that I never heard on my first few listens. Maybe my tastes have changed in twenty years, but this song kicks all sorts of ass.

This is followed up by the odd intro of Tired. It seems to use real drums and has an off structure compared to the four on the floor drumming used so far. The melody phases in and out as the song gets going. It's a strange start but things quickly begin to build momentum as an orchestral sample takes on the melody role. Once the vocals come in everything has fallen into place and all the strangeness that the song started with makes sense.

Failure is a fascinating album. All of the songs have a deep and profound sense of loss to them; the exact thing I was looking for when I first picked up the album. I don't know how I missed it. As a bonus all of the songs have an underlying darkness and cynicism to them. The lyrical themes mixed with the murky undertones of the music elevate the album to heights I never saw in the past. It took me 20 years, but damn Failure is anything but in execution. 

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 668 - Swans - The Begger

Style: Acoustic, noise, experimental rock, avant-garde, massive

Primary Emotions/Themes: Loss, nothing matters anymore, life's destructive tendencies, the annihilation of hope and happiness, freedom from life and expectations

Thoughts: Every new Swans album is more than just a release, it's an event in the anneals of musical history. Swans doesn't release an album anymore - they release something more. Ever since Soundtracks for the Blind their albums have taken on a new scope, something that no other band come close to.

Like all Swans album's I've been putting off my summary of this one for months because I'm scared to write it. The last one I wrote ended up being a voyage into insanity and back, and while The Beggar is not quite to that scope it's still a formidable album.

Starting out with the peaceful and serene No More of This, The Beggar shows off Swans versatility immediately. There is no distortion here, no harshness - only a profound sense of sadness and loss. Michael's voice has a quiet resignation to it, like he is saying a final goodbye to a close friend. While it's the first song of the album it has an incredibly strong sense of finality to it... like all things Swans, the irony is not lost here.

The band continues to slowly build up the album over the next few tracks. Why Can't I Have What I Want Any Time I That I Want? and the title track both have this slow brooding unease to them that never fully resolves. This is especially true in Why Can't...? The song is seven minutes long and continues to build tension only to end on an unresolved chord before fading into the title track. Swans are masters of making the listener feel uncomfortable - this track is just another entry into that long and storied history.

It's not till we get to minute nine of the title track that we start to see the first real climax of the album. The entire song has been building into this primitive rhythmic war machine that marches onward regardless of what anyone thinks. Even then it still doesn't explode like you would expect it to, it just kind of swells and contracts. Again Michael is fucking with us.

The title track feels like a closure to the first chapter of the album, as the next few songs are... odd at best. Michael is Done is... happy? I'm not sure how to describe it but it feels like it's Swans twisted attempt at making a major key song. I think that's just a ruse though, as the song has this underlying tone of sorrow and despair despite the superficial appearance.

Unforming is a minimalist vocal driven song that gives me a deep sense of peace. Like someone who knows that they are going to die and accepts it... that absolute peace knowing what is going to happen and not doing a thing to change it. Ebbing continues this feeling by wrapping me in a blanket of warmth with the main riff/concept of the song. The song repeats the main theme almost its entire 10 minute length with different permutations - each and every one of them exudes that warm feeling that was started on Unforming.

The album finishes up with two of the more unsettling songs. Paradise is Mine has this creepy, stalking feeling that someone is always watching my every move... ready to take me away to an unhealthy place at a moments notice. The Memorious is almost a spoken word piece that delves into all things strange, hypnotic, and bizarre. It's an interesting choice for a closing song but it works regardless.

If there is one disappointment about the Beggar it's that the record is missing arguably the most important song on the record: The Beggar Lover (Three).  This is a forty five (!!!) minute trip through insanity that rivals the best songs that the band has ever put out. Instead of creating a third record which I would have gladly paid extra for we're simply given a download code for the song. Not a fan of this decision.

The Beggar is another journey that is content to fuck with me every moment of it's run time. In doing so I'm resigned to quiet amazement at Swans ability to continue to have this effect on me album after album. The whole thing is seemingly split up into three chapters (at least musically). It's journey into the depths of human depravity, fear, hope, acceptance, freedom and slavery. Michael Gira is one of the finest guitar driven composers of our time, and this album is only another testament to his legacy. Long live Swans.

Written January 29th 2024

Entry 667 - October Tide - Winged Waltz

Style: Melodic death/doom metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Despair, isolation, anger, frustration

Thoughts: When Fredrick Norrman left Katatonia I was curious what he would end up doing. I did not anticipate that he would revive the old doom/death band October Tide as his new full time project. 

The first October Tide album - Rain Without End - is a classic in the doom/death genre. It's atmospheric, it's ominous, and it's exceptionally well written. I remember Jonas Renkse saying that this is the direction Katatonia would have gone if they had not changed styles. I think that is a fair estimation of the sound. 

Post reunion October Tide is sans Jonas. Without his involvement some of the magic of that first album is gone. The post reunion albums are excellent in their own rite, but lack just that edge that the debut had.

Winged Waltz is the third post reunion album and sees the band in a sort of transition period. The Thin Shell and Tunnel of No Light both continue right where the first two albums left off. This one sees the band beginning to branch out a bit from that earlier sound. 

October Tide have always been a delicate balance of melody, despair, and excellent riffs. On Winged Waltz the band adds in a few new elements into their sound: the riffs have become heavier, the atmosphere is lonelier and a bit progressive leanings in the song writing. 

At first I didn't care for the album.  Like many other records in my collection,  I've come to enjoy this one over time. There are small moments in the album where the song writing threw me off. A chord progression that will all the sudden go chromatic. A riff that sounds slightly off time. A seemingly awkward transition. All these things come unexpectedly at first and initially threw me out of the rhythm of the album. Over time I've come to accept this as part of the bands current sound and let the album flow as it will.

When the band is not noodling in the progressive realm this is vintage October Tide. The riffs have an incredibly lonely feeling to them. The lead guitar in particular will play a few slow notes and then be allowed to fade into nothingness. It's written like a call and response riff - but there is no response. There is only the searching for something that will never reply back. It's brilliant.

Winged Waltz was an album I was pretty unsure about when I first put it on. Was this slight shift in direction a good thing? I don't know if I have the answer to that. What I do know is that the end result - while a bit difficult to get into at first - is an album that I've come around to and one that I intend to spin more often. 

Written January 29th 2024