Release Date: Aug 23, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Heavy Metal, Guitar Virtuoso
Record label: Interscope
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The teenaged members of Black Tide are pretty young to be as death-obsessed as the title of their sophomore disc suggests they are. Then again, the afterlife has been a central fixation of metalheads for decades—and if this Miami foursome knows anything, it’s the history of heavy metal. Equal parts muscle and melody, Post Mortem plays like a slick distillation of every act between Iron Maiden and Avenged Sevenfold (both of whom Black Tide have opened for), with frontman Gabriel Garcia laying his drama-prone howl over speedy arrangements unafraid of the occasional acoustic interlude.
Just after Miami-based metal quartet Black Tide released their debut in 2008, guitarist Alex Nuñez departed, to be replaced by Austin Diaz. Along with the lineup shift, the band moved in a more distilled, commercial direction for its sophomore album. Produced by Josh Wilbur and GGGarth, 2011's Post-Mortem doesn’t have the ties to hair metal or the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that Light from Above did.
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