Death-Doom Metal is a depressive but phenomenal genre of Extreme Metal.  It is well-known for being pioneered in the 1990s by the "Peaceville Three" -otherwise known as the English bands PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA, and MY DYING BRIDE-before slowly losing popularity by the start of the 21st century.  However, some bands like TIDELESS do their best to keep Death-Doom alive.  TIDELESS is an American band from San Diego, California that was founded in 2015.  In addition to playing a fusion of Death Metal and Doom Metal, TIDELESS also includes elements of another genre known as Shoegaze in their heavy music.  Two years ago, they independently released their debut album "Adrift in Grief." Recently, the five-man group announced a second album titled "Eye of Water," scheduled to be released on September 15th.  After getting to listen to the record a little earlier before its scheduled release date, I'm now prepared to weigh its pros and cons.

Unlike the band's 2021 debut album, "Eye of Water" consists of five tracks that will be released as a 2-disc copy.  The first disc has the first three songs: "Drowning (19° 40′ 49″ N, 99° 0′ 36″ W)," "Fields at Dawn," and "Oblations for the Sun." The first track is a 6-minute and 40-second piece of pure instrumentation with no lyrics present.  Despite the lyrical absence, the instruments create the haunting, depressive atmosphere of Doom Metal.  In "Fields of Dawn," which is nearly 15 minutes long, the band starts off with a Death Metal sound.  Aaron Clarke and Carlos Gaitan use their tremolo picking skills very well, along with Kyle Armendariz's intense drumming and double bass kicking.  The second track "Oblations for the Sun" is even longer than the previous songs, clocking up to almost 19 minutes.  Just like the second song, "Oblations for the Sun" starts off with pure Death Metal before transitioning into the slower, heavier Doom Metal sound.  In both tracks, the bassist Javier Montreal contributes keyboards and synthesizers to give the music a more haunting atmosphere, without overusing either instrument.  As for the vocals, these are contributed by the drummer Kyle Armendariz (which is not often seen in various music genres) and Diego Gonzalez as backing vocalist.  However, their guttural vocal styles are too deep to make out what they're saying.

The second disc contains the final two tracks of "Eye of Water," the latter of which is the longest of all five songs.  "Laurels of Victory" is approximately 10 ½ minutes long.  It is lengthy, but it's definitely tolerable compared to the staggering 23 minutes and 54 seconds of "Lush.Serene.Dissolved." In contrast to the tracks on the first disc, "Laurels of Victory" actually begins with some heavy Doom Metal before transitioning into a more brutal Death Metal sound.  There are some very good blast beats from Kyle Armendariz on the track, along with a beautiful solo from either Clarke or Gaitan.  I can't say that I enjoyed "Lush.Serene.Dissolved" as much as its predecessor, mostly because of how long the song was.  There was a lot more instrumentation than vocals throughout the majority of the track.  In all honesty, "Lush.Serene.Dissolved" was a less than satisfactory way to bring "Eye of Water" to a close.

If you're a fan of Death-Doom and have the patience to endure lengthy tracks, then you'll probably find some things to enjoy on "Eye of Water." As I stated, TIDELESS also includes Shoegaze elements in their Death-Doom Metal, so I definitely admire their experimentation in that field.  I still had my complaints about the upcoming album, including the fact that I felt Armendariz's death vocals could have been more intelligible and even melodic, like the vocals of Nick Holmes from PARADISE LOST.  The album still had its strengths overall, so don't let my opinions discourage you from giving it a try.  Go ahead and listen to "Eye of Water" for yourself, and form your own opinion on the matter.