October Tide – A Thin Shell (2010)

Originally a side project of Jonas Renkse and Fred Norrman from Katatonia, October Tide took by surprise the Death/Doom Metal world back in 1997 with their legendary album “Rain without End”. The band disbanded from around 2000 and finally returned in 2009 with only Fred Norman (not anymore with Katatonia) and Tobias Netzell (of In Mourning) on vocals.

“A Thin Shell” marks the band’s return to the Metal scene and it’s a great comeback album for all of us Death/Doom Metal fans. With seven songs and over 40 minutes of music, this release has all the ingredients to make it a classic of the genre and continue the legacy of October Tide.

From the mind of Fred Norman we get monolithic doom riffs that immediately set the melancholic tone of this monstrous release. The growling abilities of Tobias Netzell, greatly fit the band’s sound and create a very similar feeling to his other band In Mourning. These two elements paired with tight drumming, interesting percussions, and solid rhythmic guitars make for the perfect Death/Doom Metal combination, something that is very hard to come by these days.

The album starts with the epic ‘The Custodian of Silence” track, that quickly gathers momentum with crushing guitar riffs, simple but yet effective drumming, and slower passages that allow the music to build momentum. This momentum climaxes quickly with Tobias growls and while this song feels like the good old days of Death/Doom Metal, the band is dynamic enough to keep things fresh and never getting dull.

Most of the tracks in this release follow the same formula, but songs like “A Nighttime Project” quickly standout because of the guitar melody and perfect slow pace, building up to the ‘weird’ part that features tribal-like percussions giving the music a very interesting change of pace. The melodic passages of songs like “Fragile” make this release for us a very interesting musical ride through the band’s different facets.

In general, we are glad that October Tide is finally back and giving us a dose of Melodic Death/Doom Metal like in the old days. Fred Norman clearly still has the touch to make music like the older October Tide stuff and the older Katatonia sound. Paired with the new members, the band really kicks ass and will surely win a spot in our top 10 of 2010 Death/Doom Metal albums, if not the first place.

Release: September 28th, 2010

Country: Sweden