Treading the line between stoner metal and grunge rock, Norwegian group Tripod is bringing back the heavy.
Fans of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Theory of a Deadman, Tool/A Perfect Circle should get in on this! There seems to be a revival happening of 90s alternative rock, or maybe just of all things 90s. Generally, revivalism goes in circles. In the early 2000s, you had bands like The Strokes and the Magnetic Fields reviving the garage-rock and baroque-pop sounds of the 60s and 70s. As the 00s came to a close, a lot of electronic-infused pop and r&b music gained traction, with artists being enamoured with 80s sounds and styles. You can hear a more recent example of this on Taylor Swift’s Love album. Now it’s all about the 90s, and I do recall a conversation with a good buddy of mine some years ago during which he saw this coming. I salute you, my friend. It’s not that it’s all about trends, which make predictions like this possible. I’d say it’s about reactions to changes in technology and culture. This seems to happen in every generation where many get distraught with big shifts in lifestyle and taste. A part of us always wants hold on to what came before, like it’s somehow more authentic than what’s happening now. We look at older cultural events with dreamy eyes, feeling maybe like we belong more to “back then,” even if we were too young to remember those times as they really happened. It’s a way to get grounded, when people don’t feel like they belong to the current trends in pop culture, like a mainstream trap, house, or what have you. They see themselves as “old souls.”
Tripod seem to be such old souls, bringing us back to the heavy-rock of the 90s with their latest, “Go Away.” It starts out with a thickly-processed guitar, which sounds like something the dog chewed up and spit back out. Full band with vocal kick in shortly after, establishing a perfect culmination of hard-rock amazingness. The drums sound big with lots of focus on toms, and the guitar riffs logically follow from one to the next. Starting with some simple repetitive palm muting in the verse, the song builds up with some seriously juicy riffs. Best of all, this band is tight. They’re almost Tool-tight actually. They’re just not going crazy with the polyrhythms. The vocalist has strong delivery, and he overdubs himself well, colouring his melody with spot-on harmony. There are no electronics here, so there is something to say for that authentic retrospective look at past rock music. Tripod play purely acoustic/electric music on rock instruments, and they play it very well. Why Tripod though? Might have to fly these guys in for an interview. Make this happen folks. 😉
