From the Aegean Sea to Mount Olympus:
Tidal Dreams hail from Greece, and Access Denied is their 3rd chariot in a long climb to the mountain of Metal Gods. Nektarios Santamouris is the man who believes every problem can be solved verbally, while contrary to his beliefs, Nick Teteris supports the “pounding with sticks” argumentation. And last but not least, both Paris Valadakis and John Sofis, expertly endorse the high-wired, flogging techniques on Unicorn consuming Pegasus, in order to reach those mighty summits.
You Can’t Judge A Book by the Cover… But Sometimes, You Can Assess the Songs by Looking at the Art of the CD Booklet:
This is one of those cases. If an electrically charged skeleton, with an unspecified plug-in location (somewhere below the belt… would be my guess), does not convey to you the notion of “No Ballads Shall Be Granted Here” …then I don’t know what does?
You can’t access the place of Zeus’ debauchery unless you got something of equal value to offer in exchange:
In other words; No Fillers!!! Whatsoever. Let’s see. Could these champions of Melodic Metal march the roads of our high expectations? “Tidal Disruption” opens the macabre, with a haunting riff to immediately punch you in the face, demanding your full attention. “Reach For The Sky” is an instant ear-worm, with laid back vocal delivery only raising its octane for the rhyming words of: “die” and “sky”, to put some much-needed emphasis on its epic vision of a hero’s quest. And just when you thought it can’t get any more commercial than this, you’re gonna end up grasping for air with “Access Denied”.
While Tidal Dreams won’t be anytime soon mistaken for Queen, “Flesh Hunt” offers up multiple vocal harmonies, from a decisive to a scary delivery, and 666 shades in between (eat that E.L. James), to whet your appetite for a new “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It’s no secret that every great band must have few tricks up their sleeves in order to be considered…a great band, and Tidal Dreams knows that too well. “Warrior” starts out mellow to make a passing impression of a potential ballad, but quickly shifts its gears to walk fast … and then again, few bars later we have to run full speed just to keep up with the Galifianakis’.
Nowadays, many artists are blessed if they can manage to write one or two tunes hinting at a hit, but not these guys, no. They just added “Land Of The Dead” to that pile. But wait. Hold on! Clear the charts. Here comes “Hear The Engines Roar”. Dang… I ran down to the garage, committed to fire up those cylinders when I remembered, I don’t have a Harley. Never did. Damn. Back to the listening room. And what do I hear next? “Overturn”. No, please stop this. Have mercy. No one should have this many great songs on a single album.
As “Evil Bringer” played next, I raised the white flag, singing my lungs out to a chorus bearing the resemblance of Judas Priest, from the days of yore. After a relentless assault of one Melodic greatness after another, I was sure they will close the album with a ballad. It was bound to happen, right? Errrr. Wrong! “Haunted Castle” brings all the individual pieces Access Denied had to offer in a single, convenient package. There.
Final Verdict:
Access Granted (Heck, bring down Zeus from Olympus, and put these guys in charge).
BUY: AMAZON.com / AMAZON.co.uk / BANDCAMP
Review by: Attila “Yngve J. Chapleen” Kiss
