WEIGHT OF THE TIDE is a Heavy, Melodic Metal band from Reno, Nevada, USA, founded by Mark Moots and Jason Thomas. The band released an EP in 2014, and after some successful touring and line-up changes, are back with new album "All Told." The album contains five tracks. The title track, "All Told," leads off the album. A fade in leads to a big guitar sound...hard, heavy and impactful. It has a bit of a sad and melancholic sound, slow in pace. The sound is driven mostly by the one main riff and lamenting vocals. "The End Becomes You" is another dark offering, almost bordering what you might call Doom Metal. As the band name suggests, it is indeed weighted. Guitars and bass explore mostly lower notes here and melody takes a back seat to the punishing riff and drum strikes.

"The Architect" brings more of the same...a lumbering, heavy pace...and grinds with fervor at the bottom end. Some vocal harmonies in the verses ring out nicely, but there is a bit of a disconnect with the range in working with the notes of the main riff at times. "Years Like Days" is the first faster song, with quickly picked notes in the opening riff and a more mid-tempo pace. The vocal performance here is improved but besides the heaviness of the song it doesn't move dynamically enough to really get it off the ground. "For All Tomorrows" is a seven-minute closing track. Back to the slow, lumbering pace, it wallows with misery for a while...warm and fuzzys be gone. Again, the instruments are a crushing force here, and the ambient passage towards the end provides some diversity.

The album succeeds in a punishing, weighted sound that is probably its best feature. But besides some accents here and there, it really fails to deliver memorably melodies, at least enough to call it Melodic music. At times it felt like they were unsure where to go with the chord progressions, and the connection between vocals and instruments was sometimes lost. But, give it a try and listen for yourself, as this review is only my opinion.