Release
date: July
20th
2018.
Label: BSFD
Records.
Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Eye
The Tide
– Tracklisting
Obsolith
Spaced
by One
Eternal
Monuments
Words
Like Stones
Vialys
part I & II
I,
The Tide
Members
Bartosz
Janik – Guitar, Vocal
Jan
Rutka – Bass, Vocal
Kamil
Ziólkowski – Drums, Vocal
The
Lowdown
They
say that there is no rest for the wicked and that saying can equally
be true for Spaceslug. As Spaceslug return with their third album -
Eye The Tide. This is their third record within the last eighteen
months. Following their acclaimed second album - Time Travel Dilemma
and recent EP - Mountains & Reminiscence,
Spaceslug
have decided to release their heaviest and bleakest album to date.
Their past albums were full of brutally heavy Psychedelic Doom/Stoner
sounds. However, Eye The Tide sees Spaceslug opt for a gloomier
Post-Metal sound and even sees the band play an almost Blackened Doom
Metal style of music. Though more about that later.
Opening
track - Obsolith - is the type of song that Spaceslug excel at.
Swirling psychedelic noises merged against Ambient and Post-Rock
progressive elements. The familiar post-doom/stoner and spaced out
vibes is still highly original and intriguing. The whole structure of
the song has a more drone based quality and this allows Spaceslug to
create a more reflective and personal album.
Second
song - Spaced By One - could have easily been included on their last
album. As the song has the same light/heavy progressive parts. This
is perhaps where you begin to feel Spaceslug's overall bleak vision
of the album. As the lyrics, vocals and music can be emotionally cold
and distant compared to their previous albums. Spaceslug still manage
to create a highly complex and progressive sound that will be eerie
familiar to longtime fans of the band.
Third
track - Eternal Monuments - opens with a long drawn out and highly
volatile Ambient/Doom/Drone sound with different layers of noise
being added for dramatic effect. The sludge/stoner riffs slowly
appear but Spaceslug yet again experiment with their trademark sound.
The atmosphere of the album becomes heavier and even more depressing
as time passes by. The instrumental work is simply superb though the
vocals feel underwhelming on this song. This perhaps would have
worked better as an instrumental song.
The
next song is perhaps where long-time fans will find the most issue
with. As the next song - Words Like Stones - sees Spaceslug adapt a
more blackened doom approach to their music. The song opens with
their familiar Psych Doom/Stoner hybrid sound before the atmosphere
becomes pitch-black with the blackened doom/sludge metal sounds
becoming increasingly violent. The vocals are a mixture of clean
vocals and pitch black hardcore growls. Spaceslug take influence from
Neurosis and Cult Of Luna on this song and they do deserve credit for
trying something different. The fast-paced and almost post-black
metal sounding guitar riffs could give a clear indication what
Spaceslug's music may sound in the future.
This
may seem I'm not a huge fan of this song. Far from it. I think this
maybe Spaceslug's best song they've written to date. Though long-time
fans may find this song very overwhelming at fist. As it's a
different sounding Spaceslug.
The
final two songs - Vialys Parts I & II and The Tide - sees the
band return to their classic sound but with a more grunge based
approach. These two songs show you why Spaceslug are highly regarded
within the Doom/Stoner Metal community. As the mood can only be
described as magical with the progressive doom/stoner vibes even
allowing for some cool sounding post-rock moments.
Spaceslug
end up delivering their boldest and most creative album to date. I
still prefer Time Travel Dilemma to this album. However that hasn’t
stopped
Spaceslug from delivering an ummissable and must-have album.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Richard at Sheltered Life PR and Jadd at Red Lead Media for the promo.
Eye The Tide will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via BSFD Records
from July 20th 2018.
Links:
