Saturday 6 May 2017

KENOMA - The Tides Will Prevail (Album Review)


Release date: April 28th 2017. Label: Translation Loss Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Tides Will Prevail – Tracklisting

1.33rd Parallel 10:43
2.1913 11:18
3.Curse of Tecumseh 09:04
4.Sleeping Prophet 06:49
5.Nature of Empire 13:48

Members:

Doug McGinnis-Bass
Tyler Barrett- guitar
Jimmy Magnuson- drums
Rick Shutte- Guitar
Kenny Jones- guitar

Review

It's hard to believe that The Tides Will Prevail is Kenoma's debut album. I remember these guys releasing a split record with Mouth Of The Architect a decade ago. It's good to see Kenoma finally releasing this album as they have created a highly emotional instrumental sludge/doom/post-metal album. First and foremost, Kenoma create their own sound on this album. They don't "copy" other bands style of music and that's a very hard thing to accomplish within the Instrumental Rock/Metal genre.

Opening track - 33rd Parallel - is an almost eleven minute opus as Kenoma play slow-paced doom tinged sludge/post-metal riffs with touches of psychedelic prog rock being added as well. It's quite soothing at times even with the gloomy mood lurking in the background. The instrumental work has a cool progressive feel that shows that Kenoma can really play their instruments. The song is quite challenging to listen to at times as the song goes through a couple of signature changes but Kenoma keep the mood exciting and fresh.

Second track - 1913 - opens with a more operatic feel compared to the opening track. A subtly played instrumental riffs and a thunderous soundclip only heightens the mood with slowly played ambient/post-rock music bringing the song to life. It does take time for the song to fully get going but before then you're treated to some beautifully played ambient/post-rock music that leaves you quite peaceful with the world. Before Kenoma return to their heavier Doom/Post-Metal sounds. This is another deliberately slow-paced song and it works in Kenoma's favour. As they have time to create music with more depth and soul compared to other instrumental doom/post-metal bands. It's good to hear the band play a faster style of music towards the end of the song as it shows they can create a faster and more brutal style of music when the time calls for it.

The other three songs on the album - Curse Of Tecumseh, Sleeping Prophet and Nature Of Empire follow the same path as the opening two tracks but with Kenoma showing signs of sonic experimentation with sounds of distortion coming into play especially on Curse Of Tecumseh. The Tides Of Prevail is an intelligent and thought provoking album and I hope this finds an audience within the Doom/Post-Metal community.

As it's an album with a lot to say and I don't want Kenoma to wait around for another decade to release something new. The Tides Will Prevail is an album that speaks volumes and one that demands your full attention.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Shannon at Perfect World Promotions for the promo. The Tides Will Prevail is available to buy on CD/DD now via Translation Loss Records. The Vinyl will be released in June 2017.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp