Black Tide
Post Mortem

A Blank Shot. Three years after their debut "Lights From Above," described by Big Cheese magazine as 'simply fucking awesome', Black Tide returns with "Post Mortem".
The band led by the very young Gabriel Garcia, born in '93, fails to amaze and replicate the explosive debut, and there are many contributing factors not attributable to the band. However, before talking about the current album, a necessary premise must be made.

The Miami kids have had a contract with Interscope Records since 2007. Someone decided to give them a hand by having them record a cover of Iron Maiden, one of Metallica, and dressing them in "And Justice For All" shirts to brand them as the much-awaited 'Next Big Thing'. Indeed, even I, albeit with some reservations, believed the four terrible kids could, at least in part, follow in the footsteps of the great giants of the past. But when I learned that the new producers of the anticipated second album are close to new Metal bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine, I feared a sort of adaptation to a more easy-listening style at the expense of classic heavy metal, and so it was.

Garcia was told to cut his long hair, and the Metallica shirts were replaced with shirts and vests. Between 2010 and 2011, the band released a couple of new tracks, "Bury Me" and "Honest Eyes", giving a taste of the abandonment of the Metal style in favor of a more 'catchy' one more oriented towards what the press defines as Emotional Metalcore, full of references to the aforementioned Avenged and Bullet. Nevertheless, the tracks are well-played and well-produced and serve as an appetizer for the current album.

The album opens with "Ashes". Without offense, I'm sorry to say that at times it sounds like listening to Escape The Fate, but it's like that. Nevertheless, it's a pleasant track that acts as a precursor to the already mentioned "Bury Me", one of the more convincing tracks for its grit and speed, seasoned with the first growls, almost moans, of the young G. Garcia. By track number 3, there's already a semi-ballad, the good "Let It Out", which flows pleasantly during its 5 minutes, followed by two excellent tracks like "Honest Eyes" and "That Fire", the latter being one of the most successful tracks on the album but with that 'cool' touch clearly visible from the video clip, which establishes the band's loss of identity.

The worst is yet to come, as the adolescent Emo/pop slow songs like "Fight Til The End" and "Take It Easy" begin. They try to raise the stakes with "Lost In The Sound" and "Walking Dead Man", but the damage is done. The acoustic interlude of "Into The Sky" can't help but be disgusting; I don't even want to attempt to translate the text and find it unlikely that it's written by the same rebellious kid who wrote tracks like "Shockwave" or "Black Widow". The end is irritating with the insipid "Alone" and "Give Hope".

Leaving aside what could be personal considerations, it's now evident that the music market is just that—a market, and there's no more space for ideas because the priority is money. Personally, I don't exclusively blame the Florida kids, who are probably having a great time with lots of money and don't realize they've actually sold their talent to cash-grabbing major labelsand trends. But it's undeniable that today it's really difficult to hope for a metal album that can stand the test of time.

All I can do is wait for the next one from "Evile" or alternatively dust off "Lights From Above", following the nostalgic review by Il Freddo. Wanting to be insightful, the album title and cover could paradoxically contain the message the band might want to leave, namely that of a death represented by an album that is indeed a blank shot towards music, but paradoxically embodies the umpteenth suicide of modern Metal.