2019’s In Splendor Below already showed shades of an October Tide playing around with tempos outside of head down and curled up, with lead track “I, the Polluter” and the quick-step Opeth-ian “Ögonblick av nåd” opening the field for a wider range of influence. Partially, the addition of Thenighttimeproject drummer Jonas Sköld injected this newer, bouncier life into the act. Now two albums into this lineup, October Tide threatens to shed the doom from their title in total, rendering as a still brooding but truly ripping melodic death metal outfit in the slightly progressive vein of Dark Tranquility or In Mourning (“Tapestry of Our End,” “Season of Arson”). Some tracks still possess that slower churning October Tide malaise peppered with shimmering mid-Period Katatonia guitar work (“The Cancer Pledge,” “I Know Why I’m Cold”), but much of what’s here threatens to be refreshing against a long-running discography whose forecast includes primarily gray skies and rain.
Rollicking drum fills and vicious gurgles and croaks breathe real death and fun into the best tracks on The Cancer Pledge. Sudden drops into bouncing skank beats (“Peaceful, Quiet, Safe”), brutal blackened blasts (“Blodfattig”), cymbal happy trad breakaways (“Season of Arson”)—Sköld ropes in all the tricks to match this partially re-envisioned October Tide. And right alongside him, now veteran mic-mangler Alexander Högbom unleashes a bevy of low guttural scoops, tight-throated howls, and pained, piercing yelps that move each track through these new shades of black. On previous records, Högbom excelled by punctuating the space between doomy groove and languishing leads, but at many times throughout The Cancer Pledge you can almost hear him wind-milling at the helm (“Peaceful…,” “Blodfattig”) in punished pleasure.
Yet October Tide, in their slightly new direction, can’t quite shake the feeling that a number of these new offerings just feel like October Tide tracks with a 20 bpm faster kick. This isn’t really a bad thing—far from it for folks new to the drag—but when an interjection of mid-tempo already defined part of the October Tide draw, only the songs with that aforementioned extra spice really stand out. The title track and dreamy leads of “Breathe the Water” in particular find a cadence that would fit squarely into just about any album of theirs from the past fifteen years. Thankfully none of those works are bad, so The Cancer Pledge too is anything but. A few more pushes into the double-time death metal realm could have done wonders to help these familiar waters find their own current.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, which would always have been a stretch for two brothers who have been at it this long, October Tide decided to continue to carefully remix their modern sound. And they find a mostly smart approach, save for the too playful chants of “Fuck me, fuck me!” on “Unprecedented Aggression” or the whole kitschy premise of “I Know Why I’m Cold.” Sure, I never look to the morose poetry of these outings for a deep hit of enlightenment, but calls of “Try to maintain your glow” and “I remember the sun/It was ours,” however gruesomely hopeful, leave an unpleasant grin in their full audibility. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a little wince or chuckle as you listen to a band that made a name doing quite the opposite. In any case, if a little fun is what it takes to keep October Tide from running into a low, washed-up version of themselves, then I’m all for it.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Agonia Records | Bandcamp
Websites: octobertide.net | facebook.com/octobertideband
Releases Worldwide: October 6th, 2023
