Holy Tide – ‘Aquila’
Album Review Adam McCann
My Kingdom Music/Power/Heavy Metal
Formed as a venture between Joe Caputo and members of Magic Kingdom and Maestrick, Holy Tide are ready to unleash their debut album ‘Aquila’.
This album shows a band using their pedigree to deliver an album of driving power metal that not only appeals to fans of Rhapsody of Fire with its excellent orchestrations, but also touches base with Iron Maiden, Freedom Call and Stratovarius. Although it is said that the devil has all the best tunes, ‘Aquila’ shows that tracks such as ‘Exodus’ and the Symphony X-esque ‘Curse and Ecstasy’ are certainly contrary to this, even if the latter fades into a strange jazz moment reminiscent of film noir. Yet, it can’t help being noted that ‘Aquila’ has the feeling of already worn ground and there are more than a few tracks here that are not only reminiscent of other songs, but clocking in at 70s minutes, it begins to seriously test conscious listening. However, contributions from Lacrimosa frontman Tilo Wolff and the legendary Don Airey during ‘The Shepherd’s Stone’ and ‘Lamentation’ do their utmost to keep this album alive.
There is room for improvement, but ‘Aquila’ is a strong debut album that contains plenty of enjoyable songs that have copious amounts of replayability and it will be interesting to see how Holy Tide follow this up.
Rating : 60/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
