Drownship - Tidal Passages

Drownship – Tidal Passages
Release Date: 8th November 2024
Label: These Hands Melt
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Metal, Doom, Post-Rock.
FFO: Kehlvin, Negative 13, Cult of Luna, Impure Wilhelmina, Sugar Horse, Sycomore.
Review By: Mark Young

Tidal Passages is the debut full length from Drownship as part of the These Hands Melt label. Labelled as Post-metal, because we love labels, they bring a mix of impact riffs and that mix of clean/ dirt singing styles to hammer their music home. The problem I had, at least initially, is that when you drop those extreme methods of singing in, the music behind it has to match it, or it sounds off. Where the Flood Springs kicks the album off, and it effectively sets in place how they go about their business. It’s a decent opening track with the use of mixed vocal styles on display, but as I said earlier it feels a little off with the music behind it. Those Who Drank From the Waters of Lethe is next up, with a heavier approach to it, but there is something I’m just not getting on with. If post-metal means bringing softer (to someone whose primary sonic diet is definitely on the heavier side) music whilst using extreme vocals as some form of differentiator, then it’s not going to sit well with me.

Traversing through the album, the same feeling struck me. The use of both styles just didn’t feel right, no matter how good the music was behind it. Pacified starts so well, a veritable wall of sound until they bring the cleans into play. It pains me to say that despite trying my hardest to get on with this, I just couldn’t. Both vocal styles are done well, it’s simply that they should have used one or the other. I appreciate it for what it is trying to do, and that maybe it’s a genre of music that I’m not destined to like. Taking both styles out of the equation, there are some great ideas on here that show that there is a keen sense of musical direction in place, The Great Devouring being an example of this during the middle as they launch from the introspective into a crescendo of noise around 3.50, the combination here is spot on and for me had they gone down this route from the off I would have like this so much more.