Mountains Like Tidal Waves, the solo project from Boise, Idaho based guitarist and composer Dustin Svoboda, took shape in 2016 when Svoboda teamed up with producer Sam Gates to record the project's debut EP, Emerge. Showcasing the diversity of Svoboda's talents, Mountains Like Tidal Waves primarily traffics in the hardcore sensibilities of influential acts such as Periphery and Tesseract, but distinguishes itself from the metal milieu on the strength of Svoboda's technical chops and orchestral vision. It's not hard to spot the influence of prog-rockers like Dream Theater in moments of technical flourish, while soaring, cinematic choruses evoke John Williams if he were 50% metal.