By Brian Tucker

The first band I interviewed for a publication was in the spring of 2005, local instrumental group The Title Ceremony. I remember them rehearsing in a tiny practice space at 8^th and Greenfield. It was cramped but the environment made for loud, amazing music, a rollercoaster ride of emotion via searing instrumentation.

The Title Ceremony ended but their only album remains a sonic experience, still resonates. The band members have gone onto different things, different bands. One is Unholy Tongues, a trio whose drummer Jeff Bridgers, played guitar in The Title Ceremony.

Jackal in a World of Reassurance is Unholy Tongues’ new album, released at the end of 2010, is an epic and sprawling collection of instrumental material that soars, collides, burns, sooths and caresses by virtue of driving rhythms, thick bass lines, and at times scalding and coarse guitar playing. Its members – Abram Young on guitar, Matt Williams on bass, and Bridgers on drums, effectively bring to the table experience and creativity forged in bands like The Title Ceremony and He is Legend.

Jackal is at times caustic, other times sounding angelic with damaged wings. The album moves from affecting and emotional songs like “Hollow” whose drums and cymbals sound as if they’re trying to envelop the circular guitar playing, to the methodical “Ose de Tigre” that begins gradually then drives home with jagged, hard charging rhythms.

“Dedication” opens with echoing guitar notes that are energetically alight, reminiscent of a driving Pink Floyd riff but played like a needle buried in the red. “Flowers are Dead” begins with a similar riff but evolves to something heavier, more corrosive with thick bass lines that throb and crush throughout. It ends the album on a massive scale, the music aligning itself to something akin to the fall of an empire.

But “Provo” is the track showcasing the band’s strength and wealth of ideas. Like a moment of emotional strife sparking to life, “Provo” opens casually then builds and builds to explosive results. It’s an absolutely beautiful and torrential song. If “Provo” is the album’s frenzied heart then “Eastern” is its calming, assuring soul.

Jackal is a more than solid album, rolling out like chapters of an excellent novel. It’s less a collection of great instrumentals (a description that is completely irrelevant in terms of what this album is) than one long piece of captivating music.