Album Review: Tomorrow’s Rain – Ovdan (AOP Records)

Tel Aviv’s Tomorrow’s Rain will release their second full length studio album, ‘Ovdan’, on April 19th, 2024 via AOP Records. The album is packed with guests, featuring members of: Mayhem (Attila Csihar), King Diamond/Mercyful Fate (Michael Denner), Sisters of Mercy (Ben Christo), Sol Invictus/Death in June (Tony Wakeford), Dark Funeral (Andreas Vingback), Unanimated (Mickael Broberg), Depressive Age (Jan Lubitzki) and Anja Huwe (Xmal Deutschland).

Few people could suffer a severe heart attack, have open heart surgery, and come back stronger than ever. This is what vocalist Yishai Swartz went through in 2023, and yet here he stands in 2024 with the much-anticipated new album from Tomorrow’s Rain. A listening experience like little else this year, and a listening experience that will unlikely not be topped for the rest of this year.

Partially, because Tomorrow’s Rain are an experimental band, and partially because it’s an album packed with guests. It is an understatement to say that Tomorrow’s Rain have gone above and beyond here, and the result is something quite special indeed.

Beginning things in melodramatic fashion (lovely use of a saxophone) with Roads. The immediate sense of emotion is overpowering, and this is reflected in the varied vocals. Yet, the growing doomy power of this track and how it gets so much more intense as it goes on, is what truly stands out. It’s a bar setting track, but happily, this album continues to lift that bar again and again.

Be it moody and morse, in the case of Sunrise. Delivering blackened doom heaviness and a thick vein of melody with Muaka. Sounding like the instruments have been dipped in thick syrup with Room 124. Showcasing creative use of melody and the guests (Anja Huwe is a revelation here) with I Skuggornas Grav. Or by providing a level of gothic-infused and doom-based grandeur with Burning Times.

It really is a wholly unique sounding album, and the creativity on show from Tomorrow’s Rain is simply stunning. The fact that what is on offer, in particular the fact that it is rooted in doom, and it doesn’t weigh the mind down, is so impressive. With the album over halfway done, the excitement to hear what comes next is very strong still.

Happily, Tomorrow’s Rain rewards your interest and investment with the excellent Turn Around, which just so happens to feature the legend that is Michael Denner. A track that is as close to being called ‘energetic’ as anything on this album, mainly because of the riffs, but also because it’s kept fairly short and tight.

To balance that out, Convalescence comes next and it is the opposite in many ways. Longer, wider, more melodic, and with substantial doominess. It’s one last emphatic showcase of how uniquely put together Tomorrow’s Rain heavier sound is. This is because the next two tracks, Rainbow and Intensive C.U. are ‘sort of’ intermissions. The former being very light and melodic, and the latter being a spoken word piece over the sound of hospital equipment.

It’s not quite done though, even though it’s given more than enough, as Turn Around gets another airing, but this time from a gothic rock standpoint. Take it or leave it, it doesn’t change the brilliance of this album.

Tomorrow’s Rain – Ovdan Track Listing:

1. Roads (Feat. Andreas Vingback of Dark Funeral and Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus)
2. Sunrise
3. Muaka (Feat. Attila Csihar of Mayhem)
4. Room 124
5. I Skuggornas Grav (Feat. Mickael Broberg of Unanimated and Anja Huwe of Xmal Deutschland)
6. Burning Times (Feat. Jan Lubitzki of Depressive Age)
7. Turn Around (Feat Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond)
8. Convalescence
9. Rainbow
10. Intensive C. U.
11. Turn Around – Gothic Rock Version (Feat. Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond and Ben Christo of Sisters of Mercy)

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube