After gaining critical success with their debut, Teeth of the Sea are back with their own brand of post-psych-rock. Clearly, the album is hard to link to a specific genre and the underlying theme is difficult to determine, although it is one of exploration and adventure (both musically and in the imagery it conjures). This is due to its experimental and varied nature. The Ambassador sounds like a 6 minute version of an early Metallica intro; a drone of noise with aggressive tom-tom beatings. A.C.R.O.N.Y.M brings 70’s psych rock with distorted guitar riffs and screaming feedback together with early synths. Think Manfred Manns Earth Band meets the intro of The Who’s Baba O’Riley. The title track is harrowingly progressive to the point where you just want it to be over. Other tracks are more ambient, void of drums and regard for typical song structure. Even so, it strikes you as intelligent to the point of nodding respect; in the same way as you’d feel wrong bad mouthing Richard D. James for being too ‘out there’.
However, the peaks of noise rock and ambient troughs are seldom uplifting. This is a melancholy journey, maybe to the depths of Middle Earth. Don’t expect to come out the other end ready to conquer life’s trials, instead prepare to be more disheartened by what lies before. Obviously this does not render it a bad album; it is worth it for a few seriously good songs but some leave you confused about where they are coming from and why.
7/10
Teeth of the Sea - A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.
