The second full album by
Goes Cube and the first to feature bassist Matt Tyson,
In Tides and Drifts shows the band fully settled into its enjoyable if still not truly distinct blend of loud and/or metallic styles. The trio's evident ear for both metal straight-up and some slightly off-kilter turns remains strong regardless, though, and the title of the opening song "Safety Coffin" is, if nothing else, kinda perfect. Throughout
In Tides and Drifts, evident similarities to
Torche remain on display, but within that context it's a fun album, and at 40 minutes isn't out to waste any time -- even with a three-part linked song title sequence at one point. With everything starting in full accelerated shout/scream prog/emo mode and titles like "Thunderheads" at play,
Goes Cube are dedicated to that kind of fusion that makes sense in the everything-goes world that metal in particular has found itself in, and bandleader David Obuchowski in particular is up for it big time. The midsong break of "Year of the Human" features a classic bit of focused riffing leading into a hoarse blast of a rabble-rousing chorus that then falls away into gentle moodiness, while "Gray and Winter"'s two-minute raspy thrash-into-black clatter is another standout. "The Story Is the Story Goes" does a nice job of packing in everything from focused but flashy soloing to grinding stop-start stomps, while the penultimate "The Ban Has Been Lifted" comes near to it as a keeper from the album, giving the conclusion both some extra anthemic energy and a way to indeed help wrap it all up. ~ Ned Raggett