I love concept albums. Probably the most famous that comes to mind is Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. So imagine my surprise when this came upon my way, boasting inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, H.G. Wells and Homer, all brought together under one umbrella called Tales. The band responsible for this stunning piece of work is Tribune; a prog-infused hybrid of thrash/death/doom metal hailing from Burnaby, BC.
Tales is a nine track adventure of massive bursts of progression, thrash and melodic rock. The group is fronted by the multi-layered vocals of Bryan Baker who switches effortlessly from a mellifluous standpoint and then spirals into harsher territories of monster-like growls and high pitched wailing. The style is definitely stop-start throughout the album, but it’s seamless and flows well with the music. At times they remind me of Protest the Hero another Canadian act who rely upon a similar progressive template, but have since streamlined their approach. Luckily, Tribune continues to explore and push their core sound into uncharted realms of death, doom, and thrash metal.
You can also hear influences from bands like Carcass, Death and At the Gates incorporated into their vast cannon of sounds, but I could also see fans that like Volbeat, Clutch and Mastodon dig this too. The music is polymorphic and demonstrates a willingness to break through the standard musical barrier and this is demonstrated fully on tracks like “Insectoid” and “From Funeral to Funeral”. Probably for me though, tracks like “Vengeance” or even “King of Ithaca” are the most accessible and catchiest numbers to be found here, so this adds to the plethora of extremity of Tales.
Tribune is one of those bands that can successfully blend all these influences and present a fresh take with their sound. With Tales being the band’s third release, I see no reason why they can’t continue on in this vein and push the boundaries of accepted genres of Thrash, Death and Doom metal. Perhaps a more globally advanced move will help Tribune reach a wider audience and I can’t wait for the day when this happens.
Kenneth Gallant, Editor HMS
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