Tidal Wave – The Lord Knows
Release Date: 20th January 2023
Label: Ripple Music
Bandcamp
Genre: Stoner Rock, Heavy Rock.
FFO: QOTSA, Black Sabbath, Orchid.
Review By: Paul Franklin
Drawing influences from the likes of Black Sabbath, Nirvana and Audioslave, Sweden’s Tidal Wave unleash a tsunami of mighty fuzz and raucous riffs on their sophomore release.
Rolling forward from their 2019 debut, Blueberry Muffin, the quartet of Alexander ‘Sunkan’ Sundqvist on vocals, Jesper ‘Jerpo’ Sjödin on guitars, Adam ‘Aden’ Nordin on bass, and Rasmus ‘Raz’ Sundberg on drums have created an album that fluidly combines stoner and heavy rock. The deluge begins as Lizard King stomps about in fuzzy boots, whist Sundqvist demonstrates his impressive set of pipes on a soaring chorus. It’s actually his voice that helps to set Tidal Wave apart from the ever-expanding rockery of stoner bands. Not content with following the laid-back vocal style commonly associated with the genre, Sundqvist just goes hell for leather and channels his inner rock-god, with comparisons to Chris Cornell and Ronnie James Dio not far off the mark. The latter especially evident on the doomy Sabbath-like dirge of Pentagram.
Not that the rest of the band are trailing in his wake. The rhythm section brings the groove and the thunder, Nordin’s bass in particular sounding pleasantly dirty. Which means that Sjödin can bring the surging riffs and old school solos. Check out the high-octane End Of The Line, or the head-banging groove of Robbero Bobbero, the chorus of which will take longer to clear from your mind than the debris from the beach in the aftermath of the titular wave.
Songs like Marijuana Trench and Order Of The King, slow the pace and add some more trippy, psychedelic elements and more of the Sabbath influence, before the band announce their ambitions with the arena-sized Purple Bird. Final track, the mid-tempo epic Thorsakir begins slow and builds (along with Sundjvist’s vocals) from mellow reflection to full-throated roar.
The band’s weaving together of heavy rock and stoner works well. The Lord Knows. Indeed. You should pay attention.
(4 / 5)
