October Tide – Winged Waltz – Power Of Metal.dk

Disturbing. This album is very disturbing. But then, isn’t that exactly what one should expect from a Doom Metal band like October Tide? So no, if you should expect songs about fluffy bunnies and green meadows then this album is definitely not for you, but if you love that certain feeling that started it all back in the day when Black Sabbath entered the scene, then this album is absolutely for you! Particularly the Death Metal twist ads something very interesting to this album. Maybe it is the growling, that intensifies the dark feelings that this album invokes? Personally, I believe that this is the fact indeed, or rather that it is one of the crucial elements of this album. It is slow, it is intense, extremely well produced and occasionally minimalistic. It simply creates that certain atmosphere that one can rightfully expect from a Doom Metal album. In fact the atmosphere is so intense and builds up with each song that I find it difficult to listen to the album in one row by at least the fifth song “Nursed by the Cold”.

But how do the songs sound exactly, what can one expect? Expect slow songs that proof that Heavy Metal is not necessarily about speed and which show that slow paced songs can be way more intense than most high speed performances. Also, sometimes the songs become straightforward minimalistic which makes up for a nice contrast to the Death Metal style growling of the singer. Although “nice” doesn’t really hit it. “Intense” is a more accurate description of this emotional roller coaster ride. Very, very intense! I am not sure whether I really want to listen to this kind of Metal on a regular basis, but October Tide’s new album is exactly what one can expect from an album that mixes Doom Metal with Death Metal. It plays with your emotions and feelings and takes you on a ride into an acoustic world of darkness.

Whether that is to your liking or not is something that you will have to decide for yourself, but be warned: This album is intense and therefore not for the feint of heart. You might very well come to the conclusion that the emotions invoked by this album are a burden to you. That is the effect it had on *me* at least. Still, should I really deduct any devil(s) for this? I thought about it, but decided against it. The album does what it is supposed to do. 8 devils.