Black Tide – “Chasing Shadows” [Album Review]

When metal youngsters Black Tide burst onto the scene with their debut album Light From The Above the press, especially in the UK, went slightly nuts for the band, throwing around all kinds of stupid statements about them being “the new Metallica” and so on. Unsurprisingly, their second album Post Mortem materialized and we found ourselves not looking at “the new Metallica.” Well, that was back in 2008 and, after a break away from the scene, the band are back with new album Chasing Shadows.

The question is, having been away for the best part of six years and with bands like Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine going from strength to strength, is there room in there for Chasing Shadows and if so, has it done enough to shoehorn Black Tide back into the pack? Well, it certainly follows all the similar traits of the above bands. Songs like “Angel In The Dark” are full of slick melodies, galloping metal riffs and wailing solos, while “Burn” sees the band head down the radio-friendly big ballad route.

The problem with it is that because the aforementioned bands (Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine and even to an extent Black Veil Brides) have taken this form of radio-friendly metal and turned it into something very marketable, it means there is very little on Chasing Shadows that makes it stand out from a pack that has pretty much got this particular corner of the market covered.

Having been lauded as the future of metal or whatever the hell it was they were being called, it comes as no surprise to find that Black Tide and Chasing Shadows have not managed to live up to those expectations. It’s frustrating because, listening to tracks like the title track, there are clearly moments where Black Tide shine with their big-sounding rock but, for the most part, Chasing Shadows just doesn’t come close to matching the hype.

Track Listing:

01. Intro
02. No Guidelines
03. Angel In The Dark
04. Predator (Animal)
05. Burn
06. Chasing Shadows
07. Before We Form
08. Sex Is Angry
09. Welcome To Misery
10. Heaven
11. Promised Land

Run Time: 41:00
Release Date: October 16, 2015

Check out the song “Angel in the Dark” here.