Tanks and Tears - 2024 - Timewave

(30:13; Swiss Dark Nights)

Track list:
1. Intro 1:50
2. Timewave 3:22
3. Nightmare 3:27
4. Darkside 3:42
5. Crystal Ball 2:53
6. Haze of Lies 3:24
7. Galaxies 4:03
8. Vampire Bite 2:47
9. S.O.F.T. 4:45

Line-up:
Matteo Cecchi - vocals, synthesizers
Claudio Pinellini - guitars, synthesizers
Francesco Ciulli - drums
Lorenzo Cantini - keyboards, synthesizers   


Italian band Tanks and Tears have been around in one shape or another for the past decade and a bit. The band made their debut with an EP back in 2015, with the band's full length debut album "Aware" following two years later. In 2002 another EP saw the light of the day from the band, and now in the spring of 2024 Tanks and Tears launched their second full length album "Timewave". As with their previous releases, the label Swiss Dark Nights has been the band's label of choice for this most recent creation of theirs.

What we get with this album is a solid dose of retro charm, from a band that probably know their way around certain aspects of 80s music to a greater extent than those who us who grew up in that decade. With the band liberally borrowing sounds and elements from what I suspect is more than a few handfuls of different sources of inspiration.

The material here pretty much revolve around a blend of four different styles of music from way back when. Synth pop and new wave contribute most of the major components, but both post-punk and goth rock have had an impact in terms of forming and finalizing these compositions.

The cold, borderline sterile keyboards and synthesizer sounds all come with a time stamp to them, and the more mechanical delivery of the drum parts is another feature that really puts a big 80s stamp to this album. The mix and production emphasize those aspects really well, while also adding a subtly unclear vibe to the soundscapes that to my ears at least also comes across as very much time typical.

As far as the style elements in the different songs are concerned we get some playful supportive keyboard work and often a tempo that reminds me of the synth pop bands of yesteryear, while the keyboards and synthesizer sounds, as a more isolated element, gives me a stronger association to new wave of that era. The plucked and elegant guitar details are similar to ones often found in some of the post-punk bands, while the overall mood and atmosphere created adds that darker Gothic element to the proceedings.

Tanks and Tears are skilled at balancing these different elements into a compelling whole, ensuring that we have drive and energy and a playful spirit present while also making room for the more mournful vocals and emotionally cold and detached vibes produced by the different tangents at work. With everything combining in a most charming manner, albeit not one that will be universally appealing. But for the right audience, this is an album that will get quite a few spins for sure.

If you tend to enjoy bands such as a-ha, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Joy Division, the landscapes explored by Tanks and Tears are ones that you most likely will find to be rather appealing, and much the same goes for those with a more general passion for music that sounds like it could have been made sometime around 1985. This is an album that should be something of a treat for the 80s retro crowd.

Olav M. Björnsen, April 2024

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/tanksandtears/
https://www.facebook.com/SwissDarkNights