It’s so refreshing to have new artists like this. An incredibly successful Indiegogo campaign, plus support from fans hailing from all walks of metal and alt-rock, pretty much completely predicted that this would be a super-group to look out for. But Good Tiger are so much more than that.
With members rising from the ashes of The Safety Fire, as well as The Faceless, Tesseract and Architects veterans also featuring, there is no doubt that we have a killer line-up on the table. Still, you would’ve thought such a variety of genres would result in nothing more than a mish-mash, an experiment to please fans, everything super-groups usually turn out to be: a mere “side-project”. But it’s just not. This album has space in it. It’s all about the songs, the emotions, the essence of something larger than having to be something that’s excessively heavy.
Opener “Where Are The Birds” is the exact amalgamation of this, and introduces this new sound so perfectly. It just seems to have everything that’s needed, exactly where it’s needed. From its infectiously funky verse to its anthemic chorus, as well as electronic work in the bridge, it’s all that the alt community wanted but never asked for. “Snake Oil” and “’67 Pontiac Firebird” bookend the record with more heavy tracks, but it’s the softer tunes which really make the five-piece one to watch out for. Ex-Tesseract vocalist Elliot Coleman leads the way for tracks like “Latchkey Kids” and “Understanding Silence”, which are precisely what draw us away from the group’s more technical and heavy roots.
On that note, for his first recorded full-length album, Coleman absolutely nails it. He sings like a veteran – it’s that brilliantly soothing mixture of the fluency and range of Spencer Sotelo, but with that inherently Tesseract-esque tone which holds back the reins on this constantly heaviness that the album constantly alludes to but never needs. Amazing harmonies and soaring melodies, alongside occasional screams and growls, bring that much needed beauty to the now aging influence of djent and prog metal as a whole.
“Aspirations” is especially brilliant. It really shows off the combination of the vocals and the impeccable tightness of the band, it’s almost as if they’ve been together for years. The mixing work of Adam “Nolly” Getgood from Periphery is also fantastic. The tunes are loud but never is a band member uncompromised. The mix makes the album in a way. It is natural. It is raw. The whole thing could be some magical live performance and we’d be none the wiser; it’s the whole idea that this sort of music unedited in one take is ultimately an incredibly exciting possibility.
We have no idea how long these guys will be on the scene, but the mere presence of this album is so exciting for the future of a genre which had such a jaded outlook.
