October Tide | ‘A Thin Shell’

Talk about anticipation. October Tide were one of those great treasures of the underground - a band who released only two albums, each highly sought after by fans and collectors, containing some nigh on perfect dark metal.

Unsullied by mass appeal, those albums were works of low profile but high value.

The band are back, reconstituted almost entirely. For people that mightn’t have caught those old albums, or mightn’t see the fuss, the bottom line is that October Tide were a Katatonia side project that were almost as good as the band themselves. Their ‘Grey Dawn’ track of yore pretty much sums them up - a heavier, darker Katatonia with a bit more balls.

There’ll be a lot of people who’ve waited well over a decade for this band’s return to the fray, and it’s an enormous pleasure to report that this album doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it’s a superb slab of dark doom that sits easily above modern comparators like Swallow The Sun.

Two factors make it. One: Fred Norrman’s ‘Brave Murder Day’ guitar tone runs through it, with that same 4/4 beat we all associate with the essential early Katatonia. Two: Tobias Netzell’s incredilbe booming growl, comparable directly to the talent of Novermbers Doom’s Paul Kuhr. This is one big, big bark, and gives the album superb weight.

It’s the hooks though that make A Thin Shell’. Almost each track has a rousing climax to offer, or at the very least a strident chorus. Opener ‘Custodian Of Science’ wins flat out as the best track, with it’s “So tell me now” lyrical boom. There’s even a little groove on occasion, as the charging ‘The Dividing Line’ shows.

So it’s a worthy successor to Grey Dawn, in as much as they’ve remember precisely what makes underground metal excellent and stuck to it like glue. There’s no radio crackles, dubstep beats or Cure worship in here at all, anywhere.

One almost gets the sense that Norrman was frustrated enough with what he saw as Katatonia’s development that he wanted to get closer back to their golden era.

Considering for a second that ‘Grey Dawn’ was one of the underground’s most coveted cds (before its easily accessible re-release anyhow) - and considering he’s just as good as equalled it - well, you’re inclined to say well done.

4.6/5 - Earl Grey ::: 04/09/10