We’ve talked a lot the past few weeks about bands making changes to their sound and approach and how the results can go many different ways as a result. When it works, it can reinvent a band or artist, giving them an entirely new focus, a way to pull out elements of their creativity they perhaps didn’t consider before.

Portland, Ore., power Coastlands is one of those that decided not to stay cemented in a corner and found fruitful expression beyond that as their new self-titled album proves. I follow the band on TikTok, and their posts the last year seemed to indicate more atmospheric ideas were afoot, but even that didn’t fully prepare me for these nine tracks and 36 minutes on the dot. The band—guitarist/synth player/vocalist Jason Sissoyev, bassist/vocalist Andy Ramirez, drummer Trent McIntyre—remains rooted in heaviness and power, but they add imaginative compositions and spacey pathways that makes the harder parts hit even more forcefully. It took a couple listens to fully get used to the new alterations, but now that I’m immersed, I’m fully engaged in where Coastlands have gone and hopefully are going next.

“See” dawns in blurry noise, hushed vocals trickling, synth adding a spacey feel. The melodies get further detached, acoustics strumming, the sounds squirming away. “Hollowing” melts, and then the power levels, the call of, “All good things will go away,” feeling a little close to home. The pace gets more explosive, even with gentler strains working through them, and then the drums pounds, the keys encircle, and savage howls ripple through the earth. “Mors” starts with chatter before the playing arrives slowly, crashing into a melodic fog, the keys smearing light and haunting. Sounds flow and warp, the chatter continuing into the background, washing into “Vessels” that immediately begins to punish. The playing chugs as vicious screams scorch, energy gusting as the guitars fire, and the riveting drumming bruises. The bass flexes as sounds simmer, the singing numbing as the cosmic  pressure builds, roars tearing into the distance.

“Porous” has the synth spreading like sunlight, the singing soothing, the drums kicking in before shrieks splinter in the sky. The playing swims in the distance, wails belting, “I never know,” over and over into oblivion. “Feeding” starts with the playing gusting, softer singing merging as the drums crash, clouds filling the sky. The pace gets punchier before biting down, the singing feeling numbing before disappearing into the stars. “Tied” explodes with driving force, the singing slinking, jarring and buzzing as things get more pillowy. The drums begin to spray as the screams maul, singing coming in behind it, the tension tightening as passion crests. “Neverhere” stars with sounds blurring, the singing echoing as the noise gnaws, spitting waves of static. A choral sheen slips in, the beats rattle, and the energy flows fully before fading. Closer “Drugblood” (has to be a “What We Do in the Shadows” reference) blisters and infuses air, chugging as guitars churn, burning as drums spatter. Melodies gush as shrieks rain down, the fireworks rippling through the atmosphere, hitting blazing highs that rocket blood through your veins. The exuberant, “Yeah, buddy!” heard in the background lets you know they knew they nailed it.

Coastlands emerge a completely different animal on this self-titled album, a fitting title considering this is sort of a rebirth. They haven’t left their heaviness behind and instead found different textures and wrinkles to make the bursts even more impactful. It’s also a record you can put on and let it carry you away somewhere, perhaps to worlds or dimensions previously unrevealed to you.

For more on the band, go here: https://coastlands.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://translationloss.com/collections/coastlands

For more on the label, go here: https://translationloss.com/