Interscope Records
2008
1. Shockwave
2. Shout
3. Warriors of Time
4. Give Me a Chance
5. Let Me
6. Show Me the Way
7. Enterprise
8. Live Fast Die Young
9. Hit the Lights (Metallica cover)
10. Black Abyss
11. Light from Above
Black Tide are an interesting inclusion in my reviews in that I'm not even sure why I checked them out. When one hears of a band doing shows with metalcore, etc with a name like Black Tide, signed to a non-metal label which made a special version of the album for Hot Topic you can't expect much, but I kept hearing the name in passing. I figured what the hell, I could spare a few minutes on Myspace to hear some samples.
I'm really glad I decided to listen to this band in the end because they weren't at all what I expected. What we have here is a band with modern radio friendly polish about them, but when you break down their sound it's metal to the core. There are some great rocking leads on this album and it does not shy away from a killer solo. Also, unlike many bands trying to reach a semi-mainstream audience the vocals are clean and belted out with force. Also, Black Tide does not hide it's real influences as a quick read on their various bios can tell you. Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Ozzy, Priest, Motley Crue, Testament, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen... this begins to give you a picture and I can hear much of it in their sound in different ways. The polished anthem rock of bands like Van Halen and Motley Crue can certainly be heard but so can the galloping energy of Maiden and I even hear that little bit of Testament creeping in sometimes. Hell the album includes a cover of Hit The Lights so that influence can be felt readily enough and the cover is done superbly.
In the end this album just comes across as a bunch of kids who love metal (and I do mean kids... the singer is 15 I believe) trying to be made vaguely commercially viable and it seems to be working for them. I have no problem with a little polish so long as it rocks and this is definitely one of the most metal things to creep it's way into the mainstream in recent memory. Give these guys a shot. They may not be on a metal label and their album may be pimped by Hot Topic, but this is not what you'd expect. If Warriors Of Time isn't pure metal than I don't know what is.
Highlights: Warriors Of Time, Show Me The Way, Enterprise, Shout
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Shout
3. Warriors of Time
4. Give Me a Chance
5. Let Me
6. Show Me the Way
7. Enterprise
8. Live Fast Die Young
9. Hit the Lights (Metallica cover)
10. Black Abyss
11. Light from Above
Black Tide are an interesting inclusion in my reviews in that I'm not even sure why I checked them out. When one hears of a band doing shows with metalcore, etc with a name like Black Tide, signed to a non-metal label which made a special version of the album for Hot Topic you can't expect much, but I kept hearing the name in passing. I figured what the hell, I could spare a few minutes on Myspace to hear some samples.
I'm really glad I decided to listen to this band in the end because they weren't at all what I expected. What we have here is a band with modern radio friendly polish about them, but when you break down their sound it's metal to the core. There are some great rocking leads on this album and it does not shy away from a killer solo. Also, unlike many bands trying to reach a semi-mainstream audience the vocals are clean and belted out with force. Also, Black Tide does not hide it's real influences as a quick read on their various bios can tell you. Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera, Ozzy, Priest, Motley Crue, Testament, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen... this begins to give you a picture and I can hear much of it in their sound in different ways. The polished anthem rock of bands like Van Halen and Motley Crue can certainly be heard but so can the galloping energy of Maiden and I even hear that little bit of Testament creeping in sometimes. Hell the album includes a cover of Hit The Lights so that influence can be felt readily enough and the cover is done superbly.
In the end this album just comes across as a bunch of kids who love metal (and I do mean kids... the singer is 15 I believe) trying to be made vaguely commercially viable and it seems to be working for them. I have no problem with a little polish so long as it rocks and this is definitely one of the most metal things to creep it's way into the mainstream in recent memory. Give these guys a shot. They may not be on a metal label and their album may be pimped by Hot Topic, but this is not what you'd expect. If Warriors Of Time isn't pure metal than I don't know what is.
Highlights: Warriors Of Time, Show Me The Way, Enterprise, Shout
Rating - 4.0/5
No comments:
Post a Comment