Tusk

The Resisting Dreamer

BY Keith CarmanPublished Nov 20, 2007

In order to recognise the brilliance and sonic might of Tusk, one need look no further than the talent behind such a commanding effort as The Resisting Dreamer. Featuring Pelican’s Trevor de Brauw, Tusk may be infinitely older and more experienced than de Brauw’s higher-profile outfit but they still benefit from the fowl’s accomplishments. With this fourth instalment, Tusk realise an album that’s thick and undulating, expressive and dense. Naturally though, the comparisons will fly faster and harder than water bottles at a heavy metal festival, given that both acts are wont to create slabs of primarily instrumental progressive metal that writhes between the complexities of Mastodon and the shuffling groove of smoke-inspired doom merchants. Comprised of four songs that still outlast many long-winded rivals, tracks such as "The Lewdness and Frenzy of Surrender” and "Coaxing The Resisting Dreamer: Cold-Twisted Aisle” are sprawling, bona fide epics that are overwhelming, technically confident and imposingly heavy. Ranging in attack from lugubrious dirges to ominously quiet and intricate passages that unfurl into all-out rage, The Resisting Dreamer is nothing less than total achievement thanks to its organisation, precision and dynamic textures.
(Tortuga)

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