By: John McLaughlin
Tribulation | website | facebook |
Released on April 20, 2015 via Century Media Records
Tribulation’s massive evolution between 2009’s The Horror and 2013’s The Formulas of Death was completely and utterly unexpected by just about everyone who wasn’t in the band. Normally, such shifts occur slowly, with a transitional album or two in between the old sound and the new, and plenty of times for fans to wring their hands over whether the band’s evolution is a good or bad development.
Instead, Tribulation went straight from traditional Swedish death metal into oddball prog-psych-death-black craziness. And, while the transition took four years, the band didn’t even provide so much as an EP or split hinting at the change. Needless to say, some fans were upset, while others were blown away, and yours truly – who voted The Formulas of Death the best album of 2013 – was firmly in the latter category.
But Tribulation is not done changing. After the wildness and spontaneity of The Formulas of Death, the band has unveiled The Children of the Night, a more subdued and restrained variant of the psychedelic sound they developed on their previous album. The death metal tendencies that were still a major part of the band’s sound on Formulas have been sent to the back seat, while the dark, atmospheric territory that album explored has taken center stage.
Described by the band as “more streamlined” and “back-to-basics,” one can immediately see the impact of those two aspects on the song lengths – gone are the 10+ minute epics, and while some of the songs do fall in the 6-7 minute range, most of the songs are of a more reasonable duration. Listening to the songs confirms those suspicions, as the songs are structurally far simpler than the previous album. The aggression has largely been pared back as well; where The Formulas of Death really embraced the “death” in the album title, The Children of the Night aims more for psych-rock territory with extreme metal tinges, almost like a blackened version of The Devil’s Blood or Jess & the Ancient Ones.
Admittedly, everything I described above was a major source of disappointment on my first few listens of The Children of the Night. And to a certain extent, it still is, as the unbridled craziness of The Formulas of Death was definitely a source of strength for that album. The aggression juxtaposed with the atmosphere, the sheer structural complexity – all of those resulted in an album that was very difficult to absorb, but incredibly rewarding once the whole thing made sense.
The Children of the Night feels so effortless by comparison. It’s a much gentler album on the listener, but in doing so, catches the listener off-guard, especially if they were expecting the insanity of Formulas. No, Children is an album of nuance, and if you expect to be beat over the head with riffs, you’ll miss out on a lot of subtleties. The spaciousness of ‘Strains of Horror’ and ‘Holy Libations,’ the melodic layers of ‘Winds,’ practically any of Johannes Andersson’s bass lines – none of them are forcefully thrust at you, but all work beautifully.
The move away from the strengths of The Formulas of Death is a bitter pill to swallow for some, myself included. But past accomplishments do not diminish current ones, and The Children of the Night has plenty working in its favor, and leaves a large jumping off point with which the band can explore further.
Where, exactly, will the band choose to jump to from here? Hell if I know.
