Metal Martyr

Black Tide | Light From Above Review

by Scott on March 26th, 2008

Metal fans are hateful critics, everyone of us. The review for Light From Above on Interscope Records on Blabbermouth.net was a mediocre review and then came the comments. Everyone was bashing the band with the exception of a few people. I bought it yesterday and for a cheap $9.99 ate FYE. Forget what you see about people saying they are over-hyped, oversold and over rated. Judge them for yourself. If your into old thrash, G N’ R, Motley Crue type stuff you will probably like it. If you’re looking for growling vocals, super-distorted, down tuned guitars and double bass blast beats then forget about Black Tide. What you will find is good song structure, good singing, ripping solos and an overall fun record.

Now I said before that the lyrics sounded young. They were written by a young kid so I should have expected that. Your not going to expect a 15 year old kid to write about deep politics or the struggles of life. Call them manufactured, whatever. Call them false metal, who cares. These guys put out a pretty good debut record and put on a great live show. I can only see them getting bigger and better in time. Their cover of Metallica’s Hit The Lights was an honorable cover as well. At least they didn’t cover Enter Sandman or Fuel.

Now some people on another news/message board said all sorts of defamatory stuff about these guys. One person said they were all assholes. When I met with them and did the interview they were all really cool, Gabriel seemed a bit shy but that’s not a bad trait. Even after the interview when I went back to get them to sign the Picture for the contest they were cool with me bothering them. As far as people saying “Touring with your dad is not very Metal”. All the other guys are 18 and 19 years old. Gabriel is 15. No parent in their right mind that loves their child would let them go touring the country with their friends and other people they don’t really know at 14 years old. It’s probably a legal thing with the record label. Besides, having that kind of support from you parents is something that a lot of kids wish they could have.

Yes interscope Records and Total Assault have made great efforts to publicize the shit out of this band. Do you expect them to sign a young band and not promote them? As far as Black Tide ditching their original manager, this “Chris” guy? I’m sure they probably had a reason or the record label was more comfortable going with someone they knew or more established. The band got a load of shit for not thanking some people in their liner notes. You can’t thank everyone and I’m sure the label did some editing.

Lastly, these guys are doing what most of us wish we were doing. Hate them for it if you want to but the fact is the Light From Above is a good fun debut album from a band that has promise. If you have heard the EP or the stream and you think you like it then spend a little bit of money on the CD. In the past week over 11000 other people have and that is pretty good for a debut record for a hard rock/metal band.

3 out 4

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POSTED IN: Black Tide