Tim's Favourite - 2024 - Amaconda

(62:41; Tim's Favourite)

Track list:
1. Connect and Divide 4:24
2. Totalibertarian 7:55
3. Not in Our Name 4:24
4. Filling the Hollow 6:08
5. amaConda 5:15
6. Andy’s Fall 6:16
7. Embarrassment Now (The Road to Heaven) 5:04
8. A Deeper Advantage 3:48
9. Into That Darkness 7:22
10. Phantom in My Head 6:46
11. Fly 5:19

Line-up:
Elie De Backer - drums
Wolf D'Haese - bass, vocals
Jan Pauwels - vocals, guitars
Tim Pauwels - guitars, vocals


Belgian band Tim's Favourite have been an active band unit for the better part of 25 years from what I can understand, with the band releasing their first album as far back as 2003. New music from them have appeared at irregular intervals since, with their second and third album arriving in 2009 and 2018 respectively. At the start of 2024 the band were ready with their fourth studio creation. This album is called "Amaconda", and was self released by Tim's Favourite.

I suspect a nice little discussion could be had among those with a great concern of genre placement and style orientation as to where this band fits in those particular contexts. Calls for some kind or other of hard rock might be called upon by some, and heavy metal might be the callout by others. I suspect both camps would use the world alternative though.

For my sake I rather agree with the description given in the press release, in that grunge and thrash metal are among the cornerstones of the landscapes explored here. And they go about this in a few different manners. All of them being generally compelling.

The band have a vocalist that can deliver a gritty voice that sometimes feels like it'll belong on one of the classic era Metallica albums but can also switch over to a slightly more relaxed mode of delivery that would be perfect for a 90s Seattle based hard rock band. Those often slight alterations in emphasis on the vocal side of matters emphasize the band's combination of grunge and thrash metal tendencies very well indeed.

In many songs we find the band alternating between more gentle and more aggressive displays of music, with harder edged, impact-oriented escapades with the good, old guitar riff pounding and chugging away, while the counterpart tends to be lighter en tone, gentler in expression and with a bit of an elegant, more dreamladen and frequently subtly psychedelic twist. Landscapes that grunge and stoner bands often include in the landscapes they explore, but perhaps not as often in compositions of the kind we encounter here.

Many of the riff driven parts comes with a guitar riff and a guitar sound that remind me of classic era Metallica more often than not, but while the band can replicate the sound and style of that eras of the band when they so desire, they will perhaps more often than not use those riffs in a bit more of a hard rock manner. And will often add a little bit more grunge emphasis and then a little bit more of a thrash metal emphasis to those parts of the songs. This in addition to switching over to a more purebred thrash metal mode of delivery on occasion.

We also get a few songs with a stronger groove element and some quirkier instrument movements being central features, in more clean and elegant manners as well as somewhat firmer escapades. In some cases with a band such as Tool being a likely artist to name-drop.

I find the band having honed their skills to combine their disparate influences in quite the impressive manner, and while the songs that kicks off this CD in my view at least are just a notch more tantalizing than the rest this is quite the compelling production indeed. If you can imagine a band that exist somewhere in between Soundgarden and classic era Metallica in sound, style and execution and with a few slight left turns into landscapes closer to Tool, and then add additional flavor by way of subtle psychedelic intermissions, then you might have a little bit of an idea about what to encounter from this band. And if these combinations strikes you as an intriguing ones too, this is an album you probably should find to be quite the rewarding one too. For my sake I'd say that this is a strong and solid album with some delightful highs early on.

Olav M. Björnsen, November 2024

Links:
https://timsfavourite.com/