Ok so the new album from Black Tide has been out for most of the year but the record has come to life for me in the early stages of this Christmas month. The Miami metal heads have been grabbing headlines for some time now but there are some factors of the bands recipe for success that are often over looked. Firstly, every band member is under 21 years of age so they are still just kids and the second thing is that they are signed to a label (Interscope) that seems to only deal with the best of the best such as Dr. Dre , Gwen Stafani , Jimmy Eat World and 50 cent.

The album “Light From Above” deserves all of its accolades and awards as few metal bands ever reach the maturity displayed by the teens.The way to describe the sound of the album is to think of Iron Maiden, Dragon Force and Coheed and Cambria all clashed together. Thrashing tempos and guitar solos from hyper space don’t need an invitation to suddenly explode from nowhere.

Lead singer Garcia is young and sounds young but the riffs and vocals he produces sound as mature as anyone. The tracks that shine on the record are “Shout” which uses some inventive effects while the stadium shaker “Warriors of Our Time” sounds truly epic. The album really is the first material from the band that displays their true talent and potential but supposable the group are going to get better and better. I’m not sure this can even happen but I am sure they can wave the flag for modern metal high and proud.

Like so many bands before them, massively over hyped Glasvegas have become a marmite-band, meaning quite simply that you either love them, or hate them. Unless of course you are a level headed, unbiased music critic. So nobody working at the NME, The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Q or any other musical reviewrs, all of whom have declared them to be the next Oasis, or as the NME put it; “The most important band of their generation.”

Following in the footsteps of Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, The Long Blondes and The Twang, Glasvegas won this year’s Phillip Hall Radar Award at the NME Awards. No surprise then that they too went on to tackle the charts after winning the award.

Occasionally their “tales of broken Britain” don’t sound original, but reminiscent of The Enemy, despite minimal musical similarities. However, to write off this band as another act with minimal ability, over hyped by corporate music outlets would be inaccurate. The first thing which struck me when I first heard Geraldine this summer was the superb lyrical content, and the work on the album is not a letdown, it features songwriting at the same level that Geraldine promised, particularly on the track Flowers and Football Tops, where James Allen sings; “Police on my left and right/My son’s not coming home tonight.”

On Stabbed, the quartet show that they are not devoid of energy as it may seem on their leading singles. However despite this they don’t lose their lyrical genius and maintain the melancholy mood which seemingly haunts the album.

As usual with the NME darlings, this band may be overhyped, but their promise is evident. Whilst the album may be receiving extremely generous reviews, the fire behind the smoke is one of promise.

6/10.

MP3: Glasvegas - Daddy’s Gone