EP REVIEW: Tiles Whisper Dreams – Car Bomb
The undeniable and undefinable sound of CAR BOMB has had fans on edge and delightfully confused for many years. With six years since the release of their last album, they grace our ears with three song EP Tiles Whisper Dreams, with laser (pew pews) set to kill.
The classic hallmarks of what makes CAR BOMB so distinct are all ticked off in Blindsides. There’s the atypical sway of tempo and time signature switching, which as always feels like listening to the dense mathematics of the universe; never ending engine tone, just rising and rising, coupled with a straining tape distortion is a beautiful texture along the coarse battering of the melody. Mid-section cleans are a welcome respite, and inject a more ethereal, GOJIRA adjacent feeling of calm and serenity. It’s only a gasp of air, with strange warping harmonies delving back into a tidal wave of utter destruction once again. An eery, light and flowing outro calling back to the mid-section, feels like coming out of a demented Alice-in-wonderland rabbit hole.
You’d better still have something left in the tank for Paroxysm. Sludging, divebombing guitars galore, it’s another insanely intense audible experience. Paroxysm is as aggressive as you’re likely to get, some tasty little dirges that give you a few deep blows rather than frenzied battering. Then, of course, it’s back to some crazy lead work before the maddening, almost uncountable djenting continues. The abrupt ending adds a nice blocking in the middle of these three songs, with this second offering being the a bludgeoning cannonball of track.
The best of the bunch, from the first movement the groove of title track Tiles Whisper Dreams really kicks, in a way that feels different to its predecessors. CAR BOMB’s equivalent of straight down the line, it’s almost a time signature smorgasbord board you can ease into, before another equally groovy motions sets in. If you’ve made it this far, you’ll have no problems with the onslaught of crazy ideas on display. It’s deliciously mean, and possibly the most accessible piece of CAR BOMB material, something of a showcase of their sonic trick box. Jam packed with all the things that make you love or despair with CAR BOMB’s, from revving guitars shifting up and down from all angles, wailing harmonic ‘whoops’, clashing, melding strings of notes, heavy as all hell vocals. It’s all there.
CAR BOMB doing what only CAR BOMB can, Tiles Whisper Dreams is a wild assault on the senses. If you’re a glutton for insane arrangements, there are juicy, gritty mouthfuls aplenty, with a few softer moments pleasantly sprinkled in. Music for madness, it’s a joy to hear some fresh material from one of metals most extremely experimental bands.
Rating: 8/10
Tiles Whisper Dreams is out now via self-release.
Like CAR BOMB on Facebook.