Album Review: Tumbleweed - 'Sounds From The Otherside'

'Sounds From the Otherside' is, first and foremost, straight rock ‘n’ roll. Tumbleweed’s latest offering is quite simple in that sense. Hell, even some of the song titles reflect this proverbial sound without even needing to listen– ‘Queen Of Voodoo’ or ‘Bird Of Prey’ for instance. Having said that, there are small twists to this, with some undeniable Queens of the Stone Age-like influences coming through. The moments where this happens are pretty gratifying.

The no nonsense rock which is brought to the fore is shown best right at the beginning with anticipation-building opener, ‘Mandelbrot’, and the more settled follower, ‘Sweet Little Runaway’.

Things vary a little bit more with Tumbleweed’s first single and intended monster song (it goes for over seven minutes), ‘Mountain’. There is a fairly prominent Foo Fighters sound happening quite early on in the track. There is also a transition midway, where the vocals become more distanced and echoed, which is especially noteworthy. This is all tied up quite well with a rather epic ending.

The remainder of the album tends to blend into itself, take ‘Like A Night Owl’ for example. The track may be a little more relaxed and held back than the general feeling of the album, which does turn it into a bit of a drawl at times, but ultimately it offers the same thing that was presented from the very beginning.

The only real deviation of Tumbleweed’s full-length here is in final track, ‘EPS’, which is by far the most interesting of the entire album. The song experiments with distant and, at times, almost inaudible vocals. It is seemingly an extension of what is offered in the middle of ‘Mountain’.

A good album (very good, perhaps?!) but nothing too great.

Even though it is not at all diverse, Tumbleweed offer an album that is rock ‘n’ roll from start to finish. If that is your thing, this one’s for you.

1. Mandelbrot

2. Sweet Little Runaway

3. Mountain

4. Dirty Little Secret

5. Drop In The Ocean

6. Wildfire

7. Hillbilly Headbanger

8. Queen Of Voodoo

9. Good & Evil

10. Down & Dirty

11. Bird Of Prey

12. ESP