Chasing immortality is futile, but 84 Tigers gives it a try with Nothing Ends, the life-affirming sequel to the Michigan post-hardcore trio’s debut LP, Time in the Lighthouse. Raging against any sort of dying of the light, be it creative or corporeal, while living with loss in hopes of coming out the other side of mourning in a healthier place, they unleash melodic wave after massive wave of roiling, intense emo that carries the weight of the world on its shoulders.
Expansive and visceral, scaling impenetrable walls of roaring, guitar-centric sound, Nothing Ends finds 84 Tigers in full throat, as Small Brown Bike’s Ben and Mike Reed and The Swellers’ Jonathan Diener again join forces to move indie-rock heaven and earth. Their chiming, buzzing machinery plows through a dizzying “Regeneration Days” with Seaweed’s Aaron Stauffer and an anthemic and inspiring “The Crush of it All,” whereas the swarming, dynamic “Two Rivers” gets an assist from Rocky Votolato, affecting vocals lifting its chalice of overflowing riffs ever higher.
And while the rampaging “Navigator” charges ahead, begging for guidance, uncertain of its own autonomy and yet taking responsibility for whoever’s along for the existential ride, “The Becoming” glides through, cooling its jets in a smoothly transformative awakening, and its vast, watery successor “In Infinite” surveys an open sea of dark electronica with the all-seeing Diamond Eyes of The Deftones. More often, though, 84 Tigers evokes memories of ‘90s bulldozers like Quicksand or Jawbox, as a seething “Fathom” works itself into a rolling boil and shifts its thick tectonic plates.
Angsty, but also ruminative, Nothing Ends takes big pop-punk swings, like Small Brown Bike’s contemporaries Knapsack and Samiam, and it sometimes rumbles heavily, but it also turns the volume down for sleeker, less imposing movements. The production is superb, forceful and clean. Nothing really tames 84 Tigers, though.
