Rival Tides: New Rituals

The main purpose of an extended play is to encompass the overall energy that an artist has in a short overview. It could be a teaser from what’s to come and also act as a sampling platter to what a musician has to offer at the same time. While it may be tough to bring about a concise statement regarding music, an extended play are often more of a snapshot of a moment. New Rituals, the newest EP from Los Angeles rock group Rival Tides gives an aggressive look at where the band is at this point. This EP which is produced by Erin Ron (Hands Like Houses, I the Mighty) sets out to make it’s stamp on a alternative rock genre that has many of it’s contemporaries either trying to evolve or further their previous sound to a future release. Listening to the entire body of work, you hear a band who is trying to build their foundation into an eventual album release.

New Rituals starts out with “I Want More,” which is a song filled with powerful guitars, gang vocals, and a message that is ripe for radio play and is the overall statement of the EP itself. “Child” follows a similar pattern as you find out Rival Tides has a gift for writing both catchy and aggressive choruses. The highs of New Rituals are great as could definitely see all of these songs performed in a rousing live setting. If fact, one could fathom that these five songs were recorded with the live setting in mind as they are all bombastic and energetic. I would not say that there is a perennial downfall with New Rituals. Rival Tides is fully entrenched to improve upon their 2012 self-titled EP. In most ways, it does, in other ways, you want to see the band throw a new wrench into their sound.

Both “Bleed It Out” and “Better” would be considered the slower songs, but “Dark Cloud” is a good bookend to wrap everything it. You can refer it as the “yang” to “I Want More” as it’s both darker in lyrical structure and musical tone. You can only get a small gauge within New Rituals, but there’s an air of confidence around Rival Tides. The hope is that this is the groundwork to further push and not get caught within the many bands in that genre because the promise is there.