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At Metal Injection, I’ve reviewed the debut album by Miami’s Black Tide. Singer/guitarist Gabriel Garcia is 15, and his bandmates are also teenagers. Arizona’s Age of Evil, whom I wrote about a while back, are similar in youth and sound. However, Black Tide are really thirtysomethings stuck in the ’80s. Why these teens fetishize cock rock and early power metal is beyond me, but it’s charming. Even the slightly raw production is quite ’80s. The songs are good – “Warriors of Time” is maddeningly catchy – and better than the band. (Trivium, in contrast, are the converse.) Time, though, will make them more of a unit. Oddly, they’re not on Cruz del Sur, but on Interscope. They’d better hang on for dear life to their A&R; person; Black Eyed Peas and Pussycat Dolls are probably higher priorities for their label.
Wow, I’m amazed you like this album. I’ll be the first to admit I like Black Tide’s direction, their mid-80s homage definitely defies convention (compared to other young American metal acts), but after the very impressive “Shockwave”, the recycled cliches seem, to these ears anyway, both painfully obvious and not executed convincingly enough at all. Given time, they could be capable of some quality melodic metal (I’ll go with the new Firewind for some quality retro stuff), but it really seems they’re being rushed way too quickly.
Yeah, their best years are ahead of them, but the little details and quirks of the songwriting – I have a hard enough time finding those in older bands. Right, recycled, but with fast brains and slightly slower fingers.
definitely 80’s influenced – iron maiden comes to mind right away.
i will definetely keep an eye on them, though , being a fan of NWOBHM. charlie
Riot really comes to mind. like the Thundersteel album