Tides From Nebula

Safehaven

Written by: LF on 27/07/2016 15:01:00

The Polish instrumental rock band Tides From Nebula have been making quite an impression this past year with their live performances that are always loud and exceptionally dynamic. Their last album, "Eternal Movement" from 2013, was the one that got me hooked on them with its dominating sound of twinkly and fast guitar riffs over swooping backgrounds. "Safehaven" is the group's fourth full-length and on it, they take the tempo down a notch again and go for a huge and grandiose post-rock sound consisting of slower build-ups that resemble their older albums more.

The songs are generally semi-long compositions of 5-6 minutes and thus they take their time to develop their themes but without getting too long or winding in the process. The songs twist and turn while striving for the skies just like the majestic building pictured on the album cover which is the 306 metres high Cayan Tower, or Infinity Tower, in Dubai. All the songs are emotionally charged and lush-sounding but while the album makes for a pleasant and tight listen, the standout riffs are not always as characteristic as on older songs.

Even then, some tracks do make strong impressions immediately. First and foremost of these is "The Lifter" which is one of the initially darker tracks that feels somewhat heavy in its very grounded rhythm but soon develops into a softer, soaring sound. Other good examples are "Knees To The Earth" that makes itself known with a fluttering intro riff which in time gives way to a very optimistic and convincing soundscape, and "Home" that sends us off in the end on a lighter note and features one of the most dynamic build-ups of the album.

While Tides From Nebula is definitely still a post-rock band in the upper end of the scale, this record doesn't make as much of an impression as I had hoped. The predictability of the post-rock build-up formula isn't switched up enough to make it really interesting at any point but it's still a good album with some powerful sounds that you won't regret putting into your rotation for a while.

7

Download: The Lifter, Knees To The Earth, Home
For The Fans Of: pg.lost, sleepmakeswaves, Mogwai
Listen: facebook.com/tidesfromnebulaofficial

Release date 06.05.2016
Long Branch Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.