So I just finished the Mygrain review and already commenters are hating on my review for not appreciating that band’s ability to fuse styles. So here I present to those folks a band that takes hardcore, punk, stoner, sludge, and indie and mashes them into something quite tasty. This takes serious songwriting chops. It’s bands like Goes Cube that led me to my conclusions about Mygrain. It’s not that I don’t like mixing up the genres; it’s that not everybody can pull it off.

One of my favorite releases of 2009 was Goes Cube’s Another Day Has Passed. When I first heard them, they sounded to me like Lostprophets, but harder and significantly better. I truly love Lostprophets but there are times I think they don’t know who they really want to be. Goes Cube, on the other hand, produce music that is focused and deliberate.

Goes Cube’s latest, In Tides and Drifts is harder than their first full-length, but they retain their style of many styles. I noticed the band have also let their sludge side rise to the top. There are quite a few tracks that you might almost mistake for Kylesa until some New York style hardcore pushes through. Vocalist David Obuchowski sounds quite a bit like Marshall Lichtenwaldt of The Warriors, but Goes Cube sticks with East Coast hardcore flavors. Obuchowski is also the the band’s guitarist and is jaw dropping. His guitar work is addictively complex. I continually find amazing little riffs and changes in each song I didn’t catch before.

In Tides and Drifts is a showcase of mind blowing songwriting. Kicking off the album is “Safety Coffin”, which is speedy hardcore so in your face you can smell its breath. “Thunderheads” follows with a haunting but catchy riff. You’ll notice most of the songs come in under three minutes, yet the complexity of each track is a lot to process. Packing in so much punch in such short tracks requires writing skills beyond most mortals.

My favorite cut from In Tides and Drifts is “Year of the Human”, one of the three songs that goes over four minutes. “Year of the Human” is full of the kind of post-modern rock riffs pioneered by Schtum back in the 90s. You can also hear this type of playing from Coliseum.

A cool concept from the album is a trilogy of tracks planted in the middle: “The Story Is the Story Begins”, “The Story Is the Story Goes”, and “The Story Is the Story Ends”. Like Queen’s classic bonding of “We Will Rock You”/”We Are the Champions”, these tracks must always be played together. Period.

I gave serious props to Obuchowski, but you’ll also hear some violently angry drumming from Kenny Appell. Also Matty Tyson’s bass fills out most tracks as a rhythm guitar. Goes Cube is a powerful trio. The best part of their sound is its raw, stripped-down feel. It’s not over or under produced.

With In Tides and Drifts the more you listen, the more you’ll discover. I played the album all weekend long and I would catch fantastic nuggets of genius peppered throughout. Highly recommended.

4.5/5