Bride Are You Awake Full Album 2023

Bride has long ranked among the standard-bearers within the blues based hard rock community, and that’s still true today. The veteran Louisville, Kentucky based act founded by brothers Dale (lead vocals) and Troy (guitars) Thompson traces its musical pedigree actually to straightforward heavy metal and its Pure Metal Records first three albums, Show No Mercy (1986), Live To Die (1988) and Silence Is Madness (1989). Bride, however, did not discover its blues based hard rock calling until signing with Star Song Records for the iconic three to follow in Kinetic Faith (1991), Snakes In The Playground (1992) and Scarecrow Messiah (1994). Whereas the group might have went on to stray from the musical beaten path with styles ranging from the acoustic rock of Drop (1995), modern rock to The Jesus Experience (1997) and even rap metal on Fist Full Of Bees (2001), it never failed to revisit its hard rock roots.

Hence, the musical direction to the successive string of turn of the century comeback albums: This Is It (2003), Skin For Skin (2006), Tsar Bomba (2009) and Incorruptible (2013). No doubt, the aforementioned are solid as it gets, but Bride elevated its game upon signing with Retroactive Records to release in my opinion what ranks among three of its finest albums to date in Snake Eyes (2018), Here Is Your God (2020) and its May of 2023 most recent offering Are You Awake.

Snake Eyes ‘leaves little doubt as to how (Bride) re-captures its prime Snakes In The Playground like form’ as a result of each of its songs ‘(bringing) that unique or memorable trait to allow it to hold up on its own and separate itself from the rest’ (quoting the 90% Angelic Warlord review). On Here Is Your God, Bride ‘(does not) forsake its venerated hard rock ways’ found in how it yields ‘strong facets of bluesy fortitude’ but also ups heaviness by ‘(adding) a metal (guitar) edge’ (95% review). The 2020 Angelic Warlord album of the year recipient further shines in the area of songwriting ‘(from how) there is a wealth of quality material here’.

Are You Awake builds upon such strengths by maintaining the musical consistency to Snake Eyes and Here is Your God, while reinforcing a similar at times hard rock and others metal based guitar sound. Where Are You Awake separates is in the area of production from pinpointing an added level of refinements found in crisper guitars, transparent bass and more presence-filled drums. Not that Snake Eyes or Here Is Your God in any way sound bad - both are quite well produced in their own right - but Are You Awake takes things to the next level in this regard.

https://www.angelicwarlord.com..../reviews/b/bride23b.

Musicians
Dale Thompson - Lead Vocals
Troy Thompson - Guitars, Piano, Violin, Cello and Mandolin
Greg Campbell - Bass
Alexandre Aposan - Drums