Review: Tidal Wave ‘Volume Tree’
My first introduction to Sweden’s heavy stoner four-piece Tidal Wave was as a follower of California-based label Ripple Music,purveyors of some of the finest fuzzed-out desert and heavy rock since 2010.
Before the release of their sophomore album, The Lord Knows, I was bombarded by pictures of the gorgeous artwork and multicoloured vinyl variant. I didn’t know who the band were but, as a certified magpie, I felt I needed to have it.
The second came in the form of my colleague Martin Williams’ glowing review for the 2023 album, which convinced me to part with my hard-earned fun tokens for the pretty platter without having even heard a note. His write-up of their second full-length showed the development from quirky, European-style stoner (Blueberry Muffin was the title of their debut, seriously) to a powerful blend of doomy, overdriven, hard-hitting rock and roll which highlighted the stunning range of vocalist Alexander ‘Sunkan’ Sundqvist.
So now we come to volume three, or rather Volume Tree, a combative, self-assured tour de force that looks set to cement Tidal Wave as one of the leading lights in the Swedish scene right now. That it was recorded across three different studios and mixed by three different engineers might suggest a lack of long-term vision or a disjointed continuity; however, they have used this approach to create a journey defined by these standout atmospheric changes, harnessing it as a strength.
There’s a certain amount of PR schtick that comes with a new release—how it’s the hardest, heaviest, catchiest, whatever and right on cue, the blurb tells us this is Tidal Wave at their heaviest. In fairness to them, they are not wrong.
Volume Tree begins with the pinging notes of The Orb, like the opening of a windswept Spaghetti Western, before a power slide drags us into a grandiose slow burn that builds to positively heroic-feeling chord progressions. It lives up to the billing as this is heavy – like Dehumanizer-era Black Sabbath heavy. Speaking of which, when writing about The Lord Knows, Martin highlighted the impressive pipes of Sunkanand exclaimed that he was channelling the late, great Ronnie James Dio.
That theme continues on this follow-up; the moment he opens his mouth, it sounds like he is possessed by the ghost of the diminutive one, and at times it feels like this could be a successor to Heaven & Hell’s The Devil You Know. The album positively bristles with power and confidence; the opening track is a hail of brooding intensity, passion-inspiring solos, and the dramatic proclamation of ‘before all hurt was gone’.
This continues with the buzzing, lurching stomp of Hangman. The echoing, spacey intro, with its creeping, lingering notes and letters-from-earth otherworldliness, builds into a huge, crashing wall of sound before teasing the tension and simmering back down to start again. When they do let fly, there is a hard-edged groove, and Adam ‘Aden’ Nordin’s grinding bass has scene-stealing moments as they power into a barrage of drums and caustic guitar.
positively bristles with power and confidence…
Earth opens with a sample declaring that imagination can play tricks on you before a slow, plodding doom riff and more sinister vocals drag you into another spooky tale. Sticking firmly to a crawling pace, it relies on the sheer heaviness of the guitars to give space for Sunkanto show off his vocal acrobatics, creating a powerful, epic feel until they exit the midway instrumental with a faster, no less pummelling canter to the finish line.
After that sudden speed rush, Temple Of Humanity invokes laid-back noodling and jam-room exploration. The walls of guitars are underpinned by subtle shades of stick work from Rasmus ‘Raz’ Sundberg, in total sync with Aden and guitarist Jesper ‘Jupiter’ Sjödin, showing an innate understanding of when to let each other shine. These slower-paced numbers allow Sunkanto deliver the lyrics with true emotional enunciation.
Sideburns calls back to the slightly goofier humour of earlier releases, complete with an ‘Oh my god, look at those sideburns’ sample. This is the song on the album that most feels like it came from a different session. There is a passing nod to the Sabbath influences that have dominated thus far, but there is a far looser feel and, at just under two and a half minutes is something of a throwaway.
Keeping the changed vibe of the previous track, there is more of a Corrosion of Conformity feel to Shapeshifter that wouldn’t be out of place on The Lord Knows. The tumbling smash of the track, with its pull-offs and licks, gives a boisterous feel that leans noisily on their Euro-stoner legacy in a mid-paced bounce packed with hooks galore.
Opening with a bruising groove, Manuscript 512 keeps up the more hardcore-flavoured grit of the preceding tracks, but rather than just barreling through another rock-out, they head into slow-burning, not quite mellow territory. Minimal, drawn-out instrumental passages create a drifting, timeless feel; whilst there is an inevitability to the blast-off of the retro boosters at the end, it is no less enjoyable for the anticipation.
Skitliv concludes the album on the forty-minute mark with its soft, ambient, power ballad-like stylings. Drenched in an ‘80s-esque classic rock feel, it tries to connect the dots between the heroic doom-style and the crunchier moments by fusing them together and polishing them up for a feel-good ending.
Volume Tree doesn’t quite capture the magical surprise I felt on their previous offering, probably because they are a known entity to me now, but the band delivers an album that feels epic and rocks along at a good pace, while injecting enough of their own personality to keep them at the front of the pack.
Label: Ripple Music
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
