ALBUM REVIEW: The Cancer Pledge – October Tide
Having been an established juggernaut within the death-doom scene for just shy of 30 years, OCTOBER TIDE are arguably one of the most celebrated acts that Sweden has produced. With the exception of a decade long hiatus between 1999 and 2009, the band have been incredibly prolific, not just on a recording front, but as a live act as well, with their output since their reformation being especially impressive, even when they began to drop some of the underlying doom metal influences from their sound and opted for punchy, energetic melodic death metal. The band’s latest, seventh album, The Cancer Pledge, may just be their strongest work in about a decade, and sees them return to their classic brand of melody-tinged death-doom.
Peaceful, Quiet, Safe starts things off with a forceful slab of death-doom with muscular rhythms and punishing drums, with throaty gutturals providing an aggressive edge to an already domineering sound. The melodic leads provide the only lighter element, piercing through the darkness and injecting some catchy hooks, making this both a memorable and monolithic start to proceedings. Tapestry Of Our End retains some of the brooding aspects of the preceding track, but really allows the punchier leads to come to the fore, with the harsh rumble of the vocals serving as a great counterpoint and contrasting starkly with the over-arching ethereal feel present on this offering without sacrificing too much of the ferocity.
Unprecedented Aggression, with its ponderous, dramatic build and doom-laden pace, leans prominently into the band’s bleaker side – more doom than death – although the searing vocals serve as an anchor that keeps things visceral. The powerful music that backs them, especially the guitars, shifts the album towards a grandiose sound that breaks with the unflinching intensity of the first two songs, being melancholic as opposed to monstrous. Blodfattig, with its percussive gallop and hypnotic guitar work, strikes a delicate balance between the cavernous atmosphere of the last track and the belligerence of the first two, ebbing and flowing between airy passages and speed-driven, grating ones with ease, with neither fully dominating the overall sound, although the chaotic bursts of brutality that are peppered liberally throughout do lend this a more sinister and energetic feel than what has come before it.
The Cancer Pledge is arguably one of the album’s most impactful efforts, with the dancing riffs and thunderous drums crafting an almost bombastic sound, with few harsh elements besides the thick gutturals, capturing a polished, crystalline sound that grabs the listener’s attention and makes it completely engrossing. It’s a more accessible piece of music than anything featured on the album’s first half, but still has an underlying sombreness much like earlier numbers. I Know Why I’m Cold adopts cleaner tones and a measured tempo, creating a song that adds a new dimension to the death-doom undercurrent that runs through this album, being almost acoustic in places and changing from one excellent hook to the next seamlessly, making this by far one of the most imaginative numbers on the record, and allowing the music on all fronts to be a lot more intricate and creative.
Season Of Arson takes the sort of palpable melodeath formula of the previous track and leans further into it, with much of the doom within the sound being stripped away and replaced with crisp, punchy leads, authoritative drums and hellish, acidic vocals that soar when they need to, but also provide some meatier growls for good measure, adding depth to what is a grand and adventurous offering. Breathe The Water takes this fantastic blend of melodic death metal and doom to new heights, with the reserved, rhythmic approach to the music turning this into a gargantuan, majestic affair that, when coupled with caustic vocal performances, feels even more expansive. It’s got a great, climactic component to its sound, and is a brilliant way to bring this album to a close.
In some ways, The Cancer Pledge is a return to the band’s roots, if only a partial one. Much of what features on the first half of this album possesses that classic death-doom formula, with great, gloomy passages and a heady atmosphere that grabs the listener’s attention. But the album’s second half features a much more melodeath centric sound, with a few bleak flourishes peppered in, proving to be a lot catchier, albeit with some sombre moments. This is the sound of a band getting back into the groove of creating something in a style they haven’t done as thoroughly for a long time, and doing an impressive job of it, so the chances are that it will be the next album, as opposed to this one, that showcases a full return to the band’s classic sound, if that is the intended musical trajectory.
Rating: 8/10
The Cancer Pledge is out now via Agonia Records.
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