Bandcamp There is a particular kind of band that grew up on the 1990s and never fully left, and Tight Grips are a good example of it. The Karlovac trio, a decade into their run, play stoner rock with the fingerprints of grunge and prog all over it, and Endless Gifts for Me, Myself and I, their third album, is their heaviest and most searching record, the sound of a band pushing at the edges of a style they already know cold. There is even a saxophone drifting through it, which tells you they are more interested in mood than in genre purity.
The record’s real strength is its low end. Matija Petrunic’s bass is the engine of almost everything here, a knurled, precise, forward-driving presence that carries the songs where the guitars sit back, and the band are at their best when they let it lead. “Something Out of Nothing” is the clearest example and the album’s high point, an unforced, organic, live-sounding track that resists the modern urge to flatten everything, the bass mid-growling in the centre while the drums keep a real room around them. “Raft” pulls a similar trick, a long, airy, near-dry first half that lets the guitars stay atmospheric before the heavy finale lands, with the added colour of a guest vocal from Domagoj Simek. When Tight Grips trust space over density, the songwriting has real character.
Where the record gives a little back is in the production, and it is a familiar modern story. “Death Will Follow” opens the album with a compact, loud, heavily processed sound, the drums audibly sampled and gated, the kick clicking hard through a mix pushed for maximum impact. Several of the choruses stack into a saturated wall that costs the guitars some string definition, and the master leans on the limiter enough to shave the natural dynamics off the drums. None of it is fatal, and it suits the heavier tracks better than the atmospheric ones, but it does mean the album sounds most alive precisely where it was left most alone. The gap between “Death Will Follow” and “Something Out of Nothing” is really a gap between two mixing philosophies.
Endless Gifts for Me, Myself and I is a likeable, characterful third album from a band with a genuine identity, the sax and the prog leanings giving them a texture most of their stoner peers do not have, and a bass player worth the price of admission on his own. It plays to a clear strength and only occasionally buries it under modern polish. Fans of the heavier, moodier end of stoner rock, the bands who keep one boot in the grunge era, will find a lot to sink into here. Turn it up, and follow the bass.
A Croatian trio’s third album, stoner rock welded to 90s grunge and prog, with a saxophone drifting through for colour. The engine is the bass, knurled, precise and forward-driving, carrying the songs where the guitars sit back. It’s best when the band trust space over density: “Something Out of Nothing” is the high point, unforced and organic and live-sounding, resisting the modern flatten, the bass mid-growling in the centre with real room around the drums, and “Raft” runs a long airy near-dry first half before its heavy finale. The give-back is the production: “Death Will Follow” opens compact, loud and heavily processed, drums audibly sampled and gated, and several choruses stack into a saturated wall that costs the guitars some string definition while the limiter shaves the drums’ dynamics. It suits the heavy tracks more than the atmospheric ones. Characterful writing and a standout bassist, sounding most alive where the master left it alone.
Standout tracks: Something Out of Nothing, Raft, Friction
