There is deep, and then there is deep. The difference is more than just the italics: the former is a simple description; the second, a state of being. Lawrence, Kansas’s Drifter take the italicized version of the word to sonic heart, and Nine Circles is stoked to be premiering the video for “The Tide,” the latest track off their forthcoming debut full length Grigori from Thoughtcrime Records. Taking post rock and sludge to new depths, this thing has bottomless bottom end, so clear your mind, grab a fresh change of underwear just in case and check it out after the jump.

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Jesus the bass on this. Drifter hit the scene in 2022 with an impromptu live recording that turned into The Herald EP, showing a keen grasp of how dark ambience mixed with just the right amount of post-metal and sludge can loosen fillings and make the inky blackness seem all the more inviting. Recorded over a year and a half, Grigori simultaneously ramps up what already worked with a newfound songwriting sense, imbuing the tracks with a maturity that conflicts with the short amount of time the band have been around.

Coming in the coveted third position on the album’s track listing, “The Tide” opens with the sound of the surf coming in just as the subsonic bass hits you right in the gut. Dean Edington’s bass work is almost all-consuming, the tones and frequencies rattling my fillings as Joel Denton’s drums pick out a lurching, zombified rhythm anchored by Brodie Belt’s ominous ringing guitar work. The intensity and cadence of the song hangs in this nebulous area for almost five minutes, syncing with your body’s inner rhythms…and then the crash hits and “The Tide” comes to frightening life, emerging from the swampy murk to grab you by the neck and begin to shake and throttle.

Edington notes of the track: ““The Tide” was one of the first Drifter songs to come together in the beginning. It was also the moment where I realized that we absolutely could explore whatever we wanted to with this thing. There was no box. Synth bass? Electric cello? Let’s do it. It was the crossroads where we chose to pursue texture, atmosphere, disparate sounds and art for its own sake.”

How shocking that a trio format would have me happily in their claws – the sheer sonic damage Drifter put out with this single is enough to have me eagerly anticipating the rest of the album when it comes out later this week, even as I’m dabbing the blood that somehow slipped loose from my nose.

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Grigori will be available May 23 from Thoughtcrime Records. For more information on Drifter checkout out their website and Facebook/Instagram pages.