Tribulation has come a long way from being “the band I missed opening for Cannibal Corpse because I was too busy dining on House of Blues’ signature lobster mac and cheese while they were playing”. Or “the band I missed opening for High on Fire because I was suffering from an irritable bowel syndrome attack thanks to Noodles and Company while they were playing”. My picturesque personal experiences aside, it’s been quite sometime since Tribulation has opened up for anybody. This is partially due to the fact that they’ve become the leading “us know-it-all critics/analysts haven’t come up with an appropriate subgenre name for them yet” metal bands of the past 5 years.
I guess on the surface you could call Tribulation a gothic metal band. Although when one thinks of gothic metal, the first bands that come to mind are Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Type O Negative: bands that have nothing in common with Tribulation. If anything, Tribulation’s gothic tendencies draw more from the 80s goth rock/post-punk movement, only to be bastardized through the filter of extreme metal. This is especially reinforced on their latest and most appropriately titled album, Where the Gloom Becomes Sound.
The album’s first few tracks lean so heavily on the 80s goth formula, I almost hesitate to call them “metal”. The guitars are gloomy, but lack that metallic bite. Instead, we’re treated to some cold, flange drenched leads reminiscent of The Cure or Echo and the Bunnymen. In place of the bellowing wails of Robert Smith or Ian McCulloch are the harsh, blackened vocals of Johannes Andersson. And they work surprisingly well.
The metal aspect of Where the Gloom Becomes Sound doesn’t come into play until track #4, “Dirge of a Dying Soul”. This hauntingly beautiful dirge can best be described as gothic death/doom that’s fully fleshed out by funeral organs and dulcet melodies. Contrasting this are songs like “Daughter of the Djinn” and “Funeral Pyre”. These dark gothic thrashers serve as a throwback to Tribulation’s salad days. Even then, they couldn’t decide if they wanted to be black, death, or thrash metal. So they played a blend of all three and then some. Also, if the phrase “dark gothic thrasher” sounds oxymoronic to you, it’s because it is. However, I can’t think of any other words in the English lexicon to encapsulate such sonic waves of sound.
There’s so much going on in this album that ideally it shouldn’t work. Whether you like Tribulation or not, one can’t help but appreciate their rare ability to execute multiple musical ideas across an album, or sometimes even within a single song. Their dynamic and nearly impossible to pin down sound is what makes them so appealing to everyone from stuffy metal critics (me) to denim and leather clad fanboys (also me). In the event 2021 is nearly as gloomy as 2020 was, Where the Gloom Becomes Sound will be my go to soundtrack.
8 out of 10
Label: Century Media Records
Genre: Gothic Metal
For fans of: In Solitude, Idle Hands, The Cure