Holy Tide: Aquila

I like to think that I've got my act together on the metal front given that it's been my go to genre of choice for about thirty-five years. I like to think that I have more than a working knowledge of all things metal so I was surprised when I saw the Magic Kingdom record label describe Holy Tide as, “an International Metal supergroup formed by the bass player Joe Caputo, MAESTRICK's vocalist Fabio Caldeira from Brazil, the British drummer Michael Brush (SIRENIA, MAGIC KINGDOM) and Gustavo Scaranelo on guitars from Brazil.� “Hmmmmm....,� thought I, “they have really redefined the meaning of the word supergroup!�

Piss taking aside, this is a very impressive (and long) album with notable contributions from Deep Purple's Don Airey and Tilo Wolff from Lacrimosa. The album variously to my ears sounds Like Uriah Heep, Kamelot and Blind Guardian �" all of which are good things. The songs have a pretty uniform flow to the with nice bridges, pleasing choruses and the soaring vocals of Fabio Caldeira . I don't see the comparisons to Rhapsody (of Fire) or Manowar which Magic Kingdom are pushing but I do hear a set of top quality classic rock with power metal leanings. Don Airey really Hammonds the living daylights out of "The Shepherd's Stone", great fun.

Special mention must also go to the lush orchestration and production which pushes purposeful songs such as "Lords of the Armies", "Exodus", and "Chains of Enoch" along nicely. This is one of the more surprising and better debut albums of the year.

Track Listing:

1. Creation (The Divine Design)
2. Exodus
3. Chains of Enoch
4. Godincidence
5. Curse and Ecstacy
6. Eagle Eye
7. The Crack of Dawn
8. Lord of the Armies
9. Sunk into the Ground
10. The Age of Darkness
11. The Shepherd's Stone (feat. Don Airey)
12. Lamentation (featuring (Tilo Wolff)
13. Return from Babylon
14. The Name of Babylon

Added: September 16th 2019
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
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Language: english

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