April Fool
Those pesky Finns, what is it about them? Not content with attempting to rule the roost with melodic death metal, Goth rock, power metal, Viking/folk metal and symphonic metal, they're now trying their hand at melodic metalcore. 'Tidelines' is April's debut album and to call it metalcore, as their press release suggests, is somewhat off the mark. This album is a just a straight rock album with one foot in metalcore and the other in just plain metal. Thankfully April have done a decent job with their debut because 'Tidelines' is entertaining from start to finish without completely blowing you away.
I've been wondering why Finland and Sweden, and arguably Norway, manage to churn out so many quality metal acts, in respect to their populous. Surely Finland's 5 million population can't warrant the amount of great acts that come from there, but then again it could be argued that the music industry is different in Scandinavia, with a lot more emphasis on rock rather than on manufactured tripe. I am sure if Britain had the likes of Spinefarm records fighting its corner, then the British metal industry would a lot healthier than it is now. That said, they've taken somewhat of a chance with April, they aren't the normal 'Spinefarm' act but a fair dollop of respect must be shown to Spinefarm for actually trying.
'Tidelines' is a very American sounding album, this has a lot to do with the style of vocalist Hakim Hietikko. 'Weakened to Speak' illustrates this point perfectly, sounding like something from a Staind album. There are several songs on this album that aren't too far away from the commercial sound of Papa Roach, "Dead Man Walking' and 'Colourblind' are perhaps the best two examples of this, and somewhat goes a long way to prove that 'Tidelines' is just a straight rock album.
'The Power of One' and 'First Blood' illustrate the metal sound. They have a smattering of wonderful metal riffs, the latter containing a spine-tingling fast staccato guitar line. But for all it's metal, the actual songs and structures are very much like Killswitch Engage. In fact if you took the screaming away from Killswitch Engage and replaced it with clean singing then 'Tidelines' would be your end product. Does this tactic work? Yes it does, mainly thanks to Hakim's vocal performance, but it does illustrate that taking the screaming from metalcore only leaves you with an edgy rock album. This isn't a bad thing of course, but for metal lovers such as myself, there's little in 'Tidelines' to make me come back for more, hell, I have Lamb of God for that.
If you're looking for a more listenable Killswitch Engage or All That Remains, then April maybe a good place to start. There are some great tunes on this disc, 'Weakened to Speak' being a particular highlight, and the production is light and very tidy. It lacks any real metal drive for the punch-drunk metal fan but I can't deny that this is an entertaining listen. April are a certainly a cut above their American counter-parts, I just hope America listens.