The Swedish trio known as Ginger Trees have put together a delightful little retro sounding CD here with Along With the Tide. Close your eyes and pop this one into your player, and instantly images of late 60's/early 70's psychedelia, proto-prog, folk, and hard rock start to drift into your head. That's right, think The Doors, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Iron Butterfly, Jeffereson Airplane, and the Vanilla Fudge, complete with haunting vocals, swirling Hammond organ, and bluesy hard rock guitar work.
As with a few of the other acts on the Swedish Transubtans/Record Heaven label, Ginger Trees go for a more 70's hard rock/psychedelic/doomy trip along the lines of Witchcraft rather than straight into heavy sludge or doom. Tracks like "Ghost of Another Age" and "Along With the Tide" feature some memorable heavy riffs, intoxicating vocals, and dramatic organ, more along the lines of the first three Deep Purple albums than the classic psychedelic doom of Pentagram. For pure melancholia, look no further than the almost folky "Poseidon", a tune that features some dramatic Jim Morrison styled vocals, or the dreamy, almost Damnation era Opeth influenced "Breathe".
There's really a lot to like on Along With the Tide, from the Rod Evans/Jim Morrison styled melodic vocals, the mix of thunderous riffs and majestic acoustic passages, and tasty organ. A few of the tracks seem a bit too mired in melancholy, which brings the back half of the CD down a tad, but overall this is an enjoyable slice of retro styled rock that should appeal to folks who like any of the acts mentioned about. I'll be looking forward to seeing that this band does next, that's for sure.
Track Listing
01 Forever this longing 4.52
02 Ghost of another age 4.30
03 Along with the tide 3.57
04 Poseidon 7.30
05 Shadow of the mountain 3.14
06 New day 4.36
07 Breathe 6.35
08 The swirl 4.36
09 Kurukshetra 5.55
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