Review Summary: Post-metalcore? Not quite.
Every few years, metal and music in general becomes stagnant from no new influences being brought to the table. When someone finally successfully brings something fresh to their genre, it sends an optimistic wave throughout their scene, giving (sometimes false) hope in whatever your favorite genre is. Enter Trenches, a band fronted by ex-Haste the Day screamer Jimmy Ryan, the newest act from (mostly) Christian metal and hardcore darlings Solid State. The band comes in boasting a strong post-metal influence, and while it’s certainly new to the Solid State scene, and probably all of Christian music, it’s still something we’ve all heard before, done better by established bands such as Isis.
I came into
The Tide Will Swallow Us Whole with extremely low expectations. I had never been a fan of the metalcore-by-the-numbers that Haste the Day spewed out for a few albums, and I had almost entirely given up on Christian music, this genre in particular. When I heard that Jimmy Ryan’s new band had post-metal influences, my curiosity was piqued just enough to give in and pick up the album. When you listen to the album, it doesn’t sound much different than you’d expect; extremely low-tuned guitars mutter crunchy riffs atop drums lingering around slow tempos, all fronted by Ryan’s trademark scream. It’s an idea that works on paper, particularly if you like Ryan’s monotonous vocals. As soon as opener “Calling” gets rolling, you get an early foreshadowing of what’s to come for a good portion of the next 54 minutes. After a brief and uneventful intro, the sludgy riffs come roaring through accompanied by Ryan’s raspy scream, and it’s heavy as hell. The song’s extremely basic chord progression and structure varies little other than some distortion-free breaks throughout its duration, which is both good and bad; it’s good because it successfully brings the trance-like state that post-metal in known for, but bad because Ryan’s monotonous voice is just enough to make it a little
too repetitive. Ryan Clark, courtesy of fellow Solid State act Demon Hunter, contributes some yelling vocals here as well, and they compliment Ryan’s well enough.
While the musicianship is nothing to rave about here, the band gets the job done, which in this case consists of little criteria other than blanketing everything in a dense atmosphere. I’m hesitant to call this record post-metal, but many post-metal staples are present, from taking frequent breaks from the sludgy barrage to meander about in calming ambience to making everything as dense and meaty as possible. It certainly sounds good, but if the band were trying to be Isis, their goal was not reached. The main problem is that Trenches seem to rely on simply playing this new sound to be their selling point instead of being creative with it and making something truly original. They still pull this sound off pretty well nonetheless, and there are a few things that factor into this.
The production is seamless on the record, giving it a crisper and less sludgy sound than a lot of post-metal.
The Tide could definitely be considered sludgy, but it’s a little too pretty to be genuinely so. This is an album that sounds fantastic when played loudly through a good system with the bass jacked up. It’s relentlessly heavy, which is a major strength. There’s a little more variation to be found than I expected, mainly due to Ryan’s newly expanded bag of tricks, and a few tempo changes that escalate the pace above crushingly slow periodically. In addition to his mid-ranged harsh main attack, Ryan also throws in some lower guttural growls and some cleans as well, and it generally works more often than not. He uses both his cleans and harsh vocals to front the occasional gang vocals, and it spices things up with a little variety. Some of the more ambient-oriented elements get explored, in particular with the last half of thirteen minute closer “Cornered”. It’s an all around effective dynamic, and the record shines in that regard.
After any initial excitement
The Tide brings for being the first Christian album that could be labeled post-metal, what we’re left with is an album that while nothing special, it’s certainly good for what it is, even more so if you want to place a lot of weight on it being outstanding in comparison with its peers. It shows glimpses of greatness (“Trip the Landmine” is one of my favorite songs this year), and it’s certainly a personal improvement for Jimmy Ryan over both his last band and his vocals. However, as fresh as Trenches may be for their scene, nothing new is seriously brought here. It’s still a fun and at times challenging listen nonetheless, the latter characteristic being extremely rare in Christian music. They may be a poor man’s Isis, but you’d be surprised what the poor man can offer.
