Review of Rhine - "An Outsider"

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES FROM THE PUGET SOUND

By: Geoff Teach

The last time that I was this excited about a new band hailing from Seattle, I was in my teens and swept up in the grunge wave along with nearly every other teenager alive in the U.S. during that era. Now, about twenty years later, I find myself going bonkers over yet another act from the Coffee Capital of the World; but this time, there’s no wave, no massive music industry shake-up – just one independent and innovative band making my jaw hit the floor. The band responsible for the resulting bruise on my chin? Rhine.

A four-piece conglomerate of influences, Rhine is rather impossible to fit in a genre box. The best way that I can describe the quartet’s sound on An Outsider (Independent, due out 2/5/16), their latest full-length, would be Atmospheric Black-Post-Progressive Death. It’s psychedelic, it’s epic, it’s heavy, and it is full blast ballsy. Never in my life have I heard metal presented in such an amalgamated and boldly arranged fashion. Rich, lush, complex, and adroit, An Outsider is a masterful display of songwriting that harnesses idiosyncrasy with grace and aggression with integrity.

Right from the start, Rhine’s An Outsider is a rolling, twisting odyssey into hypnagogic madness. From the eleven-minute opener “Dreaming of Death” to the mesmerizing closer “Fragments”, An Outsider takes the listener on a stunning and unforgettable journey. Some of my favorite songs on the ten-track release include “The Spell of Dark Water”, the amazing title-track, “An Outsider”, as well as “Paralyzed”, “Dissolved in Fire”, and the stark-yet-quirky “P.R.E.Y.”. Superbly composed and performed, Rhine’s An Outsider is weird, wild, and completely mind-blowing. Contact Rhine to order yourself a copy today!