If you’re tired of bands playing it safe, then buckle the hell up. Tritonic is here with “Oh, Sinai!”, the lead single from their upcoming second album, Bend the Arc!, and it’s a monstrous, genre-obliterating statement of intent.
A jagged, fretless guitar riff slices through the silence, carrying those dissonant, icy shades of black metal. Here’s the kicker—the band actually converted their own guitars to fretless. That’s right, they literally destroyed and rebuilt their instruments to invite this glorious ambiguity and variance into their sound. It puts you on edge immediately. Then Peter Jewkes drops in on vocals. But instead of the predictable guttural roar you’d expect, he delivers something melodic, almost Bowie-esque that feels both alien and totally captivating. This clash—abrasive instrumentation meeting soaring, melodic vocals—is pure genius. It creates this disorienting, futuristic soundscape that’ll mess with your head in the best way possible.
The track masterfully plays with space and expectation. There’s no percussion at the start, leaving you adrift in this haunting, unstable land. When Rob Channon’s drums finally crash in, they don’t unleash a blast beat; they land with a deliberate, ceremonial power. The atmosphere swells to an epic scale, feeling less like a song and more like a gnostic ritual you’ve stumbled into. The chorus, with its almost chant-like melodic contour, feels designed for collective invocation, pulling you into its twisted liturgy.
Just when you think you’ve got Tritonic figured out, they hit you with this wild bridge that comes out of nowhere. Electronic whistles start screaming, and suddenly you’re in the middle of this beautiful chaos—a full-on sonic freakout where hard rock riffs bubble up through the madness. You’ve got Jewkes working overtime on multiple instruments, Jonathan Oh on guitar, Ben Smithers on bass, and Channon keeping it all from flying apart.
“Oh, Sinai!” is a bold, uncompromising mission statement from a band that operates on its own terms. By releasing Bend the Arc! exclusively on wax-dipped cassette, they force you to engage physically or not at all. This track, with its fusion of sludge, doom, and avant-garde experimentation, is a powerful first taste. Tritonic is building a new, challenging altar for heavy sound. Bring your own cassettes and prepare to be converted.