Mine was mostly the same (although found room for Bee Mask in the top 20) - maybe something about the shared experience of those bigger records puts them over the line in a way that “band with 28 plays on Spotify” doesn’t manage. Context is always an important part of these things, after all.
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St Anger. Obvs. 
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I used to write for the Silent Ballet around this time! 
Lots of the writers loved The American Dollar so could well have been from there.
Funnily enough it also takes me back to a very specific time in my life. Living near London Bridge, being massively busy working and studying at the same time but still going to a ton of gigs and generally living pretty hard in a way that absolutely destroy me now.
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Teeth of the Sea - Master
Back when I first moved to London, I worked shift work. I’d have a lot of dead days off with nothing to do and no friends to meet, so I’d go to a lot of nights that I’d refer to as frog kissing gigs. Bands that I wasn’t really into but I had nothing better to do. Sometimes they were a winner, most times not. But, on one fateful night, Teeth of the Sea were doing an album launch and I turned up to have a beer and see what was what.
They blew my mind and had a good try at my eardrums.
And that was it. I was mostly deaf for the rest of the night and I was a fan for life.
(When I was doing a bit of research for this piece, I discovered that the gig is on youtube! If you’re interested just have a look and imagine it’s so loud you can’t hear yourself think.)
Teeth of the Sea started life as a bunch of mates who went to see a Wolf Eyes gig and were so inspired by it they decided to start a band. Their first few releases were psychedelic post rock, but with Master, they found their voice.
If I was to describe what I thought the high concept pitch for this album was, I go for John Carpenter making a soundtrack for a cyberpunk film while taking inspiration from spaghetti westerns.
There really is nothing out there like TotS and they are one of the best examples of blending your influences to make something new.
After a short intro track, Reaper hits with a descending synthline that screams 80’s neon and chrome, and is strapped to a bassline that will not stop. Then the guitar kicks in and we’re off to cyberspace but also, somehow, that mountain top Slash played that solo on for the November Rain video. None of this should work but this is alchemy.
After that strong open, the mood crashes. The bpm plummets, the feeling of dread encroaches and the band starts a game of bait and switch with the listener. For every banger there’s going to be a track seeped with paranoia, probably involving some barely made out spoken word, synth drones and a trumpet.
Don’t fear the trumpet. TotS would be nothing without that trumpet.
Black Strategy is another highlight. They still had a live drummer at this point and here they made him work for this space on the stage. The pace increases and keyboards start to fill the soundstage. The trumpet soars over the repeating synths and it all feels like it’s going to boil over. It never really does on Master though, most of the songs on here are a tease like that. This album only brings release on the band’s terms, not yours.
One of the more remarkable slower tracks, Pleiades Underground, has an unsettling horror film soundtrack vibe, with soft echoing piano and children’s voices down the mix. What’s not expected is the most evil Overkill style doom riff that comes out of nowhere and menaces the hell out of the listener. It’s so fantastically filthy it’s almost impossible not to play air guitar as it roars into life.
The closer, Responder, marries trumpet, that filthy guitar and huge beats in a way I don’t think anyone else has even dreamed of, let alone made their signature sound. It’s a slow build over four minutes. Carpenter-esque synths, a slowly building guitar solo and some vocoder mumbling set the scene before it all kicks off into a delirious melting pot that spirals around itself before fading out an instrument at a time. It feels exhausted, put through the wringer but euphoric at the same time.
Master isn’t an easy listen, it’s not something you’re going to want to put on for a sunny evening in the garden. But when you’re in the mood for something a little different, something a little challenging, but something that will reward you with a world class banger at the end of it, this is for you.
It honestly doesn’t sound like anyone else I’ve heard and more people should hear this band.
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Excellent write-up of an excellent album! I think your TOTS posts may have been partly responsible for my discovering them.
I sensed that what was I about to type, I had typed before in other threads. A quick search tells me I am indeed about to repeat myself, but the time and place are right, so bear with and all that.
One of my most memorable moments of spine-tingling gig-joy was hearing this special band play Responder live in the Science Museum IMAX cinema, as we entered the closing moments of the Apollo: Moon Shot documentary.
An absolute must-see at ATG this year.
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Yea, that was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. 
See you front and center at ATG. 
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Hi
Definitely going to be keeping an eye on this thread. Had never heard of The American Dollar before and really liked that album which I listened to in an empty classroom today because none of my students turned up (classic end of year behaviour)
I’m sure I’ve heard Teeth of the Sea before, or at least I’ve heard of their name (I think Tom Ravenscroft played one of their songs at some point when I could be arsed listening to 6 music but I don’t remember what or when that was) but never heard this album. Really liking this one too.
Added to the fact I already know that Chameleons album. Keep going! And don’t worry if it takes all summer because I’ve got sod all else to do really for July and August but read and listen to music
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Really need to spend more time with TOTS. Love them every time I hear them but haven"t put the time in for it to properly bite.
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Love ‘Script of the Bridge’.
Struggling to really get there with ‘A memory stream’, it’s nice but leaves me a bit cold.
Looking forward to ‘Master’, as I’ve never really listened to TOTS.
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Absolutely love Teeth of the Sea. They’re my go to counter wherever people talk about all post-rock bands being the same/boring. They’re vital and inventive and manage to be both cerebral and also they slap on a physical level.
Master may well be their masterpiece but plenty of their subsequent records, especially Wraith and Tarantula are up there too.
I saw them touring Wraith at Ramsgate Music Hall. It was my favourite kind of gig. Headliners on for about an hour: no pause, no let up, no encore. They played the record and a couple of other tracks and left us all standing there mouths agape.
Wonderful band.
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Wraith is a better album but Master had more of an impact on me.
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Really enjoying ‘Master’, great stuff. Wonder why I’ve never listened to this band.
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I made this for a friend as a sampler if anyone is looking to have a bit of an explore into their sound. It was made before the latest album came out.
I only found out quite recently and it may be common knowledge but Teeth of the Sea was what the movie Jaws was released as in France.
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ha, nice!
Excited to explore this stuff! Lovely writings!
Ref Chameleons, really weird how unobtainable the post-Chameleons Sun and the Moon album is. Some fantastic stuff on it. Probably some boring money-related reason I guess.
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I don’t know this. Will check it out 
Thanks for the kind words.
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Deffo do check it out, some great tracks and brilliant guitaring.
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The guitarist from Teeth of the Sea is a contestant on Popmaster TV on More4 right now!
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