Tid - Bortom Inom
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Swedes can bring the umlauts, too. Tid hail from Linköping (and Stockholm) and have a bassist named Björn, a guitarist named Söderberg, and songs titled “Synvända” and “Västanvind.” I can’t do much with the Swedish lyrics other than bask in the profusion of umlauts and cute little circles above the letter “a.” (The one in Mikael Åkerfeldt’s name is almost angelic.) And that artwork! It screams “’70s synth project.” You had me at ELO.
Tid don’t bring progressive cheese, but psychedelic hardcore doom. That sounds like a bad MySpace description, but it’s literally true. Bortom Inom is like a cross between Cave In’s psychedelic pop period and their later return to heaviness. Spacy, gauzy tones alternate with huge, ball-dragging distortion, with midrange hardcore-ish screams. Tid evoke that Boston hardcore-gone-sludge vibe (Isis, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra), but more melodically; they’re keen on bittersweet oscillations between major and minor thirds.
I don’t understand why Tid aren’t on Hydra Head yet with Technicolor all-over prints by Aaron Turner on white hoodies. This EP is godlike. “Se” is a towering edifice of “awesome.” These four songs last almost half an hour, and almost make me want to start smoking weed. Best of all, this EP is free to download – in both MP3 and WAV versions, complete with artwork! Tid couldn’t have packaged this gift more nicely. Do them and your ears a favor, and grab this EP here.
