Sunny Day Real Estate - The Rising Tide (Double Black Vinyl)

This album seemed to expose a more mature and dynamic musical approach to the already groundbreaking progressive rock sound they'd previously been known for. Hard drum and guitar driven sounds mixed with passionate, poetic, and emotive lyrics. Now available again on vinyl with a gatefold cover.

The Rising Tide will probably thin the herd even more, not because it's a bad album but because the band once again has gone traipsing through the fields to find a new pasture in which to graze. Tide engages their emo-antics with the kind of seven-cornered songs that made up Enigk's solo release, Return of the Frog Queen, but this time they're topped with a dose of progressive-rock overdrive. It sounds a bit hard to swallow, but producer Lou Giordano deserves a hand for making a shift of sound go down smooth.