This post's artist is from the June 2013 Mix. This is track #16.
Band: TENTACLES
Genres: Hardcore / Punk / Crust / Grind / Metal / Power-Violence / Screamo / Other Stuff
Related artists: formerly Tentacle's A Flower.
Country: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Years Active: 2006-present
Song: "Natul Tortuosa"
Album: "Isolation Is A Gift"
Year: 2010
For fans of: Orchid, Usurp Synapse, Clancy 6, Mara'akate, Phoenix Bodies, Creeper, Old Soul, Deafheaven, June Paik, Titan, Oktober Skyline, Neil Perry, Discordance Axis, and Owen Hart.
I first heard TENTACLES last year, and I want to quickly explain my first encounter with their 'Isolation Is A Gift' record. Initially, it was way too hard and I was ready to dismiss the band. Too much, too fast - it was an aural overload. Then my ears picked up on the melodies and underlying structure of the songs right before I deleted their albums. Huge move on my part - as with many of my other favourite bands, I just didn't quite get it at first, but once I was able to make sense of the craziness, all of it became musical bliss. If I had to describe their general sound by dropping some great band names - TENTACLES play a mixture of Orchid, Neil Perry and Discordance Axis but sound much thicker and heavier than those bands.
The band's first record has hints of atmospheric screamo, grind and black metal. The songs are rather long and the band seems to jump all over the place. Their are great parts, but no standout songs. The second record focuses on pure insanity. Seriously, this thing is ridiculously fast and screamy to the point where it sounds like demonic women dying by firing squad - in a good way. The third and newest record shows the band straddling the 2 styles very effectively - which can be summed up by the closer "Mystic Furnace" that incorporates some great/awkward riffing at the end much akin to bands like Mara'akate, Usurp Synapse, June Paik, Neil Perry and Envy, who managed to create beautiful and atmospheric soft passages within a whirlwind of aggressive music.
Let me talk more about the band's new record, 'Cogita Mori', as it is most certainly the band's crowning achievement to date, although I feel like I could make a good case as to why "Natul Tortuasa" and "What Matters Will Matter" are 2 of the best songs recorded by the band, but not here, not now. The "Intro/Cogita Mori" opener lets you know right away that this record will have some super-heavy riffs and combine them with lulls of melodic, atmospheric gloom. The next standout track is "Throes of Light", which showcases some insane double-bass and doesn't really focus as much on breakdowns as it does on pure speed. The vocals continue in the Usurp Synapse, (old) Mara'akate and Discordance Axis fashion, which basically means that the vocalist screams like a fucking banshee. By the time we get to the awesomely heavy and trudging breakdown one minute into "Life Is Absurd", listeners will know for sure if this band is for them or not - as the song eventually overturns, and what I can only describe as a death-cry, leaks out. This recording is mixed beautifully - as the previous ep suffered from what I call "extreme-cymbal syndrome".
So yeah, TENTACLES are killer and you've never heard of them. Until now.
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DISCOGRAPHY
2010 - Isolation Is A Gift cd (stream/download/donate here)
2013 - Cogita Mori (stream/purchase here)
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TENTACLES additional links
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