ALBUM REVIEW: Instant Rewards – Tides From Nebula

Five years after their last release, TIDES FROM NEBULA have decided to go the entirely homegrown route for their fourth album, Instant Rewards. The Polish post-rock trio have eschewed external support, going all-in on self-production and release on their own imprint. The result is an accomplished, energetic slice of space-faring instrumental rock that lives up to its title.

The opening track and lead singe Burned To The Ground sets the tone for the album. TIDES FROM NEBULA are keen disciples of transitions from atmospheric calm to blistering heaviness, and the formula is laid out here. Otherworldly atmospheric chimes yield to ascending sci-fi synths and drum machine kicks before the band announces itself at full distorted volume. It’s a memorable, muscular riff – driving power chords and bass augmented by cavernous tremolo picking and a ping-ponging guitar lead line. In true post-rock style, the band rein back the energy for a bit, retaining some melodic ideas, some new ingredients added with major key piano chords. A pulsing four-to-the-floor kick urges the track forward into a heavy riff reprise to close.

There’s a cinematic flair present in The Great Survey, its single-note guitar reminiscent of a modern movie trailer before intertwining, evolving guitars wind their way through a 7/4 riff. Underneath them, ambient textures abound: all swells and atmosphere, the sound of cosmic industry and purpose. The crescendos remain earned, the riffs hard-hitting but more thrilling than foreboding, even amidst some clashing chromaticism.

That science fiction vibe is a steel thread throughout, expressed in augmented chords and warbling synths. The songs that lean into this to evoke specific atmospheres are among the most creative. Fearflood implements this well, with a bouncing space envelope and tense swells grounded by a dirty single-note bass line from Przemek Węgłowski. It later pulls off an alien call-and-response between effect-laden and dry guitars before settling into more straightforward post-rock territory. It feels like the soundtrack to a chase across the galaxy, propelled by surging guitars and the thumping toms of Tomasz Stołowski‘s busy drumkit.

It’s not all epic sci-fi grandeur – there’s plenty of room for fun on this album, too. The tempo is kicked up a gear on second single Rhino, a speedy, snarling guitar riff that breaks into a driving snare chorus, bookended with some conga drum rhythms. The off-kilter chord changes throughout would create a sense of foreboding if it were not so much fun. Later, The Haunting gives the listener about 45 seconds of plaintive drumming and calmness before diving into wig-out excess. The singalong lead lines over thunderous drums and bass sit at odds with the track title; exciting rather than haunting.

Occasionally, Instant Rewards cannot get out of its own way, burdened with too many ideas to cohere as it might. In The Blood is a fun lesson in contrasts – dark, plodding electronica giving way to one of the more euphoric moments of the album. But it fails to keep the magic going, instead regressing to the mean of the album’s overplayed rock-out moments. Flora runs the gamut of the band’s different textures but feels frustratingly unfocused. It is, however, an exemplar of the band’s diligent production efforts, tying together a multitude of sounds and instruments into a coherent whole across its seven-minute runtime. The vision the band has is faithfully executed here, the DIY route serving them well.

The album concludes with The Sweetest Way To Die, a showcase of all the guitar techniques in Maciej Karbowski’s locker. Cavernous tremolo picking and surging melodic lines paint a chameleonic wall of sound. The song earns its cathartic closing moments but perhaps does not ascend the peaks it could. As an instrumental rock album in the mould of CASPIAN at their heaviest, or RUSSIAN CIRCLES at their most melodic, this is a grand effort, keen to take you on a journey through the cosmos. There’s plenty to enjoy; it might not be the most profound effort in the genre, but it does provide a great deal of fun.

Rating: 7/10

Instant Rewards is set for release on November 8th via Nebula Records.

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