{"id":66021,"date":"2018-01-26T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=66021"},"modified":"2018-02-11T00:12:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-11T00:12:13","slug":"album-review-tribulation-down-below","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-tribulation-down-below\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBULATION – Down Below (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

TRIBULATION
Down Below<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCentury Media (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cinematic death metal. Is there such a thing? Sweden\u2019s Tribulation thinks so… and they\u2019re pretty good at it too. Think of the band Ghost for a minute. Now that\u2019s what comes to mind when I listen to Tribulation\u2019s new disc, Down Below<\/em>. It\u2019s heavy and it\u2019s deathly, but in a different kind of way. For example, if you listen close enough, there\u2019s a massive Goth undercurrent that runs right down the middle of this album. I point that out because it\u2019s a good thing \u2013 it works here, and I like it.<\/p>\n

The death metal vibe meeting the Goth \/ dark spirit thing marries quite well together, and that\u2019s hard to pull off. A lot of bands have tried meshing different styles together, but can\u2019t get it right.<\/p>\n

On this, their fourth record, Tribulation have found a unique sound and identity. It\u2019s not Ghost, who I mentioned earlier, nor is it Opeth or My Dying Bride, but it is progressive, and about as progressive as death metal can get before crossing over into other territory altogether. But make no mistake about it folks, Tribulation have come into their own with Down Below<\/em>. It\u2019s a well thought out, heavy slab of grandiose metal.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s get back to that word \u201cprogressive\u201d for a moment. This album is an exploration into where the underground ends and mainstream sound begins. They\u2019re walking a fine line here, but they\u2019re quite good at it. Down Below<\/em> is a very entertaining record to listen to. It\u2019s got teeth, it\u2019s got kick to it, and that\u2019s all you can ask for when it comes to metal. This isn\u2019t primal, bark at the moon, caveman rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. This is highly textured, multi layered music that challenges the boundaries of what we call heavy, metal and death.<\/p>\n

Down Below<\/em> isn\u2019t a concept record per se, but it does deal with themes of death and the afterlife, with song titles such as \u2018Lady Death\u2019, \u2018Purgatorio\u2019, and \u2018Cries From The Underworld\u2019. The band weaves a really cool tapestry of fear, anxiety and tension with its distinct presence of keyboards that round out the band\u2019s sound. The music creates atmosphere covering you like a blanket, crashing into you like invisible waves of darkness and dread. The songs on this record are thick with contour and density that overflow with heaviness. They get under your skin and work through your head. A great example of this is the afoementioned \u2018Lady Death\u2019, which in my opinion is the best song on this album. It\u2019s everything I just described and then some.<\/p>\n

In a way, Tribulation reminds me of early King Diamond. Not in his vocal style, but similarities do exist nevertheless. A lot of death metal concentrates on how brutal and how aggressive the music can be, but Down Below<\/em> isn\u2019t that. In fact, it\u2019s the opposite. This is an exercise in how many musical layers Tribulation can lay down and intertwine to create heavy dreamscapes that are both crushing and melodic at the same time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m predicting that this is the album that puts Tribulation on the map, and if MTV were still playing music today then this would be the band they\u2019d break. If the Tribulation boys are on top of their game here, they might want to start thinking about putting together a dynamic live show, maybe something theatrical, to match the intensity and depth of Down Below<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is one great record. For fans who like their metal unique and well thought out. Now go forth and conquer.<\/p>\n

Theron Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TRIBULATIONDown Below Century Media (2018)Rating: 8\/10 Cinematic death metal. Is there such a thing? Sweden\u2019s Tribulation thinks so… and they\u2019re pretty good at it too. Think of the band Ghost for a minute. Now that\u2019s what comes to mind when I listen to Tribulation\u2019s new disc, Down Below. It\u2019s heavy and it\u2019s deathly, but in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3834],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-tribulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66023,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66021\/revisions\/66023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}