Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Talk about nearly entirely off the radar or mostly an unknown entity, have I got one for you today with Clarkson, Kentucky’s Tiger Nest. Hell, I don’t even know how I discovered this band and I LIVE in Kentucky… but I did and now I am sharing them with you.
I say “them” but I really don’t know who “they” are but it only adds to the mystique of Tiger Nest and mystique is something this band excels in. Simply tagging themselves (I assume there’s more than one person here, who knows) as “exploratory metal” on Bandcamp and with a pretty minimalist Facebook page devoid of any band pics, about-type info, etc. Tiger Nest keeps it all about the music.
What that music is consists of “exploratory metal” which, to me, breaks down to be part sludge, part post-metal / hardcore, part progressive, and part doom. It’s not earth-shuddering type breaking news or anything but dammit, it is good. It is not overthought or over-processed but it is thought out and full of emotional twists and turns. Those are derived with a variety of musical variances achieved through straightforward simplicity and it works well here.
With no song under seven minutes in playing time length, there really is a lot of territories explored. There are some incredible, almost improvisational-feeling jams on cuts like “The Bounty Hunter” (one of my fave tracks) and others of undiluted heaviness ala “Feed Me To The Forests” or “Apparition“. All the vocals are of an aggressive or heavier / harsher style delivery.
Yep, Tiger Nest is indeed a cool find if I do say so myself, and being that they (or them, or he, or whomever) are fellow Kentuckians, makes it that much cooler for me. So there, if you want to go off the beaten path for a bit and do some exploring of your own, I suggest you take the time to check out Tiger Nest. Their seeming one and only release is this self-titled full-length album and one other single, “Through The Doorway” (here), both released this month (December 2017). Both are currently also available as NYP (Name Your Price) items once you follow the link to Bandcamp via the embedded player below.
