Tideless : "Eye of Water"

I have covered a ton of death metal already this year, so for me  the key is to really become more selective and seek out bands that are doing something different. Two minutes into this album and it's evident that is the case here. Tideless is from California and  make an attempt to set themselves apart of their sophomore release. They have dialed back the hyper aggression, and embark on something that has more in common with post-rock.  The At just under seven minutes the opening track is the shortest song on this album. Given the nature of what they are doing , the time to establish dynamics in important , but does it justify a fifteen minute song. The first growl of vocals is heard on the second song. It is used in almost a more funeral doom fashion. At two minutes in I am wondering where they are going from here, so 13 more minutes of wondering that might be excessive. The low growl of the vocals feels more like a texture thing than a narrative. The sweeping melodies of shoe gaze come into play about midway into the song to make things more interesting. 

"Oblations for the Sun" kicks into motion with the kind of double bass barrage that is expected from death metal. As far as guitar solos go they crank out a ripper on this one. It bridges the distance between the aggression the song begins with and the melodic ghosts of atmosphere to come. It floats off on this 19 minute fever dream. The drums employ and undercurrent of double bass at times to keep things grounded. The song breaks down to the point where this is really a new song, so not sure why they insist on keeping it going and not just allowing it to break into shorter songs which is what it feels like it wants to do. It feels like one of those sweeping post-hardcore build ups as the song progresses. "Laurels of Victory' might be the best blended balance of what they do. The shoe gazing and growl raising are in equal proportions. The more tremolo picked guitars that race around certain sections of this song create more of a black metal feel. The ripping solos do keep coming to add a more melodic texture. The ten minute time span also seems like a well balanced limit to songwriting excess. 

The last song of the album is the immense "Lush Serene Dissolved" . The first three minutes finds the drums riding a jazzy groove. This is sent soaring into a more astral sonic space. I am all for the sounds they are working with , but do they need to be toyed with for 23 whole minutes? The length of entire albums, is excess to a fault especially considering how things break down at the  five and a half minute mark before building into something that feels like a different song. It's not that they have a theme that needs to keep going here. The vocals stay at the same gurgle grunt, not really adding much lyrically. For what they do it's a texture thing. When it comes to their death metal side I have noted over the course of listening to this album that they do not dig into the kind of weighty chugs that bands like Obituary or Incantation are noted for. 

The benefit to these guys wearing the death metal rule book like a loose garment, it they are also less prone to just default into a blur of speed. Eleven and a half minutes in they are back into the balance of gaze vs death metal, though leaning more into the lazy post-rock drift. At 17 minutes in there is another one of those moments where it should be a new song, having very little to do with the 17 minutes that came before it thematically. I will give this album a 9, while they do some rather sonically stunning things, and are onto something remarkable here, the inability to trim the fat as needed hampers the song writing in places, keeping this from being a perfect album, but it is still a great listen.