GOOD TIGER | We Will All Be Gone | Album Review

Progressive rock and metal has attained some of the best and most quality injected music lately. With bands like Northlane and Intervals being personal favorites of mine, to a wealthy and diverse crop of bands like Periphery that have held the banner high for some time, it feels like musicians who think outside the box of what is to be expected by rock and metal fans have transcended far in the realms of critical success. One such band that should not be ignored in that crop of music makers is Good Tiger. Having thrived in their genre since the middle of the 2010's with the release of their first effort, "A Head Full Of Moonlight", it isn't very easy to define the sound of this band as in the press release promoting their 2018 sophomore album "We Will All Be Gone", their ambition is to go in a direction that is very seldomly taken by most of their peers. Comprised of band members of Tesseract and The Safety Fire, there isn't a lot of belaboring with djent riffs and aggressive vocals as those bands but more of a post-hardcore twinged alt-metal interpretation of the progressive metal genre. So, with a lot of promise and potential attached to this release and an underlining ambition that shines in the most vibrant way, how does all of this reveal itself in the 10 track album? 

Good Tiger's sophomore effort was one that I didn't really know about until I checked album release schedules that had this album on it, and I was intrigued, especially after learning about involvement from Tesseract and looking at the very unique album cover which is very pink (you just don't get a lot of album covers in metal or rock that are mostly pink, especially that variation of the color). I soon enough scanned through the singles of the album, particularly the track "Grip Shoes", and I felt that this band had something to offer as long as the music stayed top-notch throughout the album. The good news is that "We Will All Be Gone" definitely meets all of its requirements in order to impress. Tracks such as the opening duo of songs"The Devil Thinks I'm Sinking" and "Float On" do great at showing the band's strengths, such as good songwriting and a wide range vocal performance from frontman Elliott Coleman, but it's tracks later on in the album like "Salt Of The Earth", "Such A Kind Stranger", and especially "Just Shy", that do the best at putting a recommended amount of diversity and cohesion to the picture. Looking at these three songs, you definitely get variety when it comes to the tone and style shift from heavy to soft, and there are definitely shades of other bands blended into their sound like Glassjaw on the track "Salt Of The Earth" and Cove Reber era Saosin on "Just Shy", but Good Tiger do enough with their toolkit to sound like their own thing. Add an instrumental track "Cherry Lemon" as the second to last track on the album that fully immerses you in the group's apparent knack for creative drumlines and clean guitarwork, and you get this album in a nutshell. 

There are definitely tracks that stand out more than others in this tracklist and the album doesn't really feel lengthy due to it being only ten tracks, and one of those being an instrumental, but everything you are offered within the material written for this record has something to offer. Very rarely is there a disconnect between these songs, and when there is, it is just because one track doesn't completely grab your interest as much as another one might. All throughout the album, the intentions to make something worth trying out and enjoying are high and get fulfilled. For those who love progressive metal and alternative metal, this album is destine to win lots of people over. This is the type of album that has the potential to get the band that created it more well known and acknowledged over time. New bands really need support and drive more than ever in a time where people mostly support big name bands and leave newer acts alone due to the fact that society thinks that it's a niche genre. With Good Tiger and their sophomore release, it's true that this is a name to look out for and this album may end up being talked about as one of the better albums of 2018. Overall, this is a disc that's guaranteed to make you want to buy it immediately after playback. It may not be the most perfect album ever, but the tracks that are fantastic are more transcend their "fantastic" description. 

RATING: 9/10 

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.