A View from High Tides
Troubleman Unlimited, 2002

Now that it’s nearly 20 years old and overlooked by otherwise credible sources as a vital example of millennial screamo, it’s time to give this fiery Minneapolis-via-Sioux City band’s swansong its due. After a string of cult 7″ records on ultra-limited boutique labels and an excellent debut long-player The Birth of Tragedy, Song of Zarathustra, like many hardcore bands at the turn of the century in skin tight black jeans and white belts, did some serious homework in the science of fucking up aggro music and putting it back together in implausible ways. While this often resulted in patience-testing musical dynamics and the pretentious reek of emo bands also gurgling up around this time, SOT’s sheer intensity couldn’t be faked and their attention to detail elevated them well above the fray.

What makes this record compelling is how sharply their songwriting skills are honed here. While their early records teemed with noisy aggression and ominous keyboards that nearly teeter into the realm of symphonic black metal, High Tides channels these traits into writhing chunks of guitar and chopped up screamo that could appeal to both Hot Snakes or Locust fans. With a sound and menace of a coiled-up Drive Like Jehu that can strike with Converge-style intensity, the nine tracks across the 24:33 runtime here defy the laws of mediocrity that clogged the record bins of 2002.

LINKS

https://www.facebook.com/SONGOFZARATHUSTRA

Here are some blazing bonus Song of Zarathustra tracks from the Level Plane label’s Near and Far Vol. 2 split LP series with Racebannon: