Welcome to Heavy Blog is Heavy’s feature, “The Anatomy Of.” Taken from the Between The Buried And Me album of the same name, in which the band pays tribute to artists/bands that they feel have most inspired their songwriting, “The Anatomy Of” allows us to hand off the metaphorical microphone to bands so they can talk about their influences. Read more entries from this series here.
Not to be confused with the similarly excellent Good Tiger, Pomegranate Tiger is a progressive instrumental project spearheaded by Martin Andres. Formerly a four-piece band, Andres decided to go it (mostly) alone for the latest release, Boundless, which received very high marks from us here at Heavy Blog is Heavy.
For this week’s Anatomy Of, Martin Andres offered us quite the varied list of influences that might have you raising an eyebrow at first. However, if you give Boundless a good listen, you’ll be able to hear all of the pieces of the puzzle as clear as day. What comprises Pomegranate Tiger? Read below to find out!
I’m pretty sure the first time I heard of Gojira was when I saw them opening for Lamb of God in 2006, give or take a year. All I remember thinking was that the drummer (Mario Duplantier) was insanely tight and how similar the live material sounded to their record. From Mars to Sirius was the first big dose of Gojira influence on the new Pomegranate Tiger material being written back in 2006. Gojira is still amazing and has been a big influence for ten years now. The biggest thing I take away from these guys is their ability to be write catchy, rhythmic riffs. When the band plays certain sections in unison, synced in their respective syncopation, the gigantic and powerful sound it creates feels amazing.
This track is awesome all the way through, but the fireworks explode at the 6 minute mark all the way to the end. The Brazilian-born brothers, the Assads, are one of the most renowned classical guitar duos in the world. I’ve been watching and listening to these guys for the last couple of years and they’ve been a huge influence on Boundless. Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian-born composer, wrote the above piece for the Assad brothers, which made me fall totally in love with his compositions, rhythmically and harmonically.
I love how there is only a single melodic line supported in so many different ways throughout Daft Punk‘s “Derezzed.” The entire TRON:Legacy soundtrack is amazing—so many grooves, atmospheres and beautiful textures created throughout. I think this track and a few others were huge influences on Boundless. My favourite thing about TRON: Legacy’s soundtrack is how Daft Punk and arranger/orchestrator Joseph Trapanese were able to develop ideas together. It seems that they would take simple ideas and flesh them out slowly over time, making each new instrumental entrance more obvious and pronounced. I learned a lot of cool things studying this soundtrack.
There are many artists I could mention for my fourth influence, but this one will have to take the cake. Most other progressive metal artists that I enjoy have taken influence directly from Dream Theater. I have never been a huge Dream Theater fan, but have learned a lot of the John Petrucci’s music throughout the years. He has been a big influence on Pomegranate Tiger’s music. Suspended Animation, Train of Thought and Systematic Chaos are all albums that I have dissected. “In the Presence of My Enemies (Part 2)” is particularly noteworthy; listen from 9:17 – 13:15.
Pomegranate Tiger is a progressive instrumental project by Martin Andres. The latest album, Boundless, is available via Bandcamp. Follow the project on Facebook and Twitter!