GOOD TIGER | Raised In A Doomsday Cult | Album Review

UK's Good Tiger have been forging their own identity in the progressive metal and rock landscape since their debut album in 2015, entitled "A Head Full Of Moonlight". After five years of being an overlooked favorite in their field, the time has come for their third studio release "Raised In A Doomsday Cult", which is being released independently after they departed from Metal Blade. For those who don't know about Good Tiger, the supergroup is comprised of members of various progressive metal/djent acts. Two members of The Safety Fire are involved with this project, and vocalist Elliot Coleman fronted Sky Eats Airplane and most notably had a brief stint with Tesseract during Daniel Tompkin's initial departure. All of this led to the Good Tiger project, which, due to the previous history of the members, is lumped in with those bands. That's not completely fair, because this is one of those bands that has a sound that's all their own. There is metal influence, especially on the band's prior works, but there is also a sense of tranquility in the music that can calm a listener. Post-hardcore and alternative metal are also heavily present in Good Tiger's palette of styles, so simply labeling them as a metal band is not selling this product in the most accurate way. As this is one of the freshest new bands in rock and metal, and previous albums have delivered in unending amounts, especially 2018's "We Will All Be Gone", let's take a look at the third record by the English band to see how they follow up two promising albums.

All of the eleven tracks on "Raised In A Doomsday Cult" were pre-released leading up to the full album release, which isn't a good way to promote the album in my opinion. However, that doesn't mean the music is underwhelming. The first song "Kimbal", is also the album's first single, and is one of the weaker tracks to come from these sessions. It's a good introduction to what you will be presented with throughout the album, but "Kimbal" would have had more impact if it were longer. Even if that's the case, the music is still fluently played and vocalist Elliot Coleman accels with his unique vocal style. "Ghost Vomit" is much more energized all the way through, and this is what got me to anticipate this album more than I already did. It's reminiscent of material from their previous album only if they upped the melody, and it's an early highlight for sure. Tracks such as "What Happened To Man's Best Friend" and "1252"  follow suit in the fashion of blending melodic clean guitarwork and post-hardcore styled riffs with the varied vocal performance of Elliot Coleman, who uses his one of a kind vocal delivery to great effect, especially on the previous track. The first four tracks on the album showcase the talent of the band in a great way, even though not every single track in this section of the album is absolutely fantastic or mindblowing. It's a good setup for the rest of the album to deliver in a consistent fashion, and thankfully it does.

"Young Speak" is a continuation of the sound previously described, and it's one of the better examples of what Good Tiger's capabilities are. The atmospheric verses are blissful and melodic, meanwhile the drumwork is this song's biggest strength. The band's former drummer Alex Rudinger left to be in Intronaut, thus they got JP Bouvet to fill in for this album, and his performance is excellent throughout the album along with everything else. "Redshift" goes a bit softer than the previous tracks, but the melody stays intact. I'm not sure I will return to this track consistently, but for what it is, "Redshift" definitely works as something you'd want to revisit. "Animal Mother" is akin to "We Will All Be Gone" material, which makes it one of the heavier moments on the album, even though this song is definitely not death growls and blast beats for three minutes straight. "Sunthrower Flower" is more on the opposite side of coin, as it's light as a feather and focuses on atmosphere and melody similar to many other tracks on the album. That being said, the quality that was established by the other tracks isn't sacrificed. This is an excellent cut, and the same could be said for "GoGo Yubari", which is more rooted in straight post-hardcore and features an excellent chorus and drum performance. On an album with many highlights that make it difficult to choose a true standout, it is hard to not include this track as one of the high points.

The track "Grow.Smile.Accept" isn't particularly great, but definitely not bad. It's just middle of the road compared to most of the other tracks on the album, and especially the excellent album closer "If You Weren't My Son I'd Hug You". At over seven minutes in length, this is my favorite song on the entire album. This carries every element that makes this album and band succeed, and even features an additional vocalist. I'm not sure who it is that's singing with Coleman, but he does a fantastic job. It is an excellent way to close out an album as it showcases something different while also staying true to this band's sound. And that's the same description I can give to "Raised In A Doomsday Cult" in general. It's an ambitious album that separates itself from Good Tiger's previous albums but stays faithful to the standard that the band has set throughout their short career. Though I do like their previous album much more than this, that's not to say that this album outright fails to deliver anything substantial. Good Tiger are a band to keep your eyes on in the future, because at this rate they're incapable of producing anything that's low quality. Overall, "Raised In A Doomsday Cult" is an excellent display of the UK band's technicality that doesn't have to resort to constant brutality to be construed as good. If you're a fan of melodic and excellently played music and you're looking for something great, let this tiger sink its claws into you.

RATING: 8/10

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