Align the Tide – Hollow
Release Date: 26th August 2022
Label: Cleopatra Records
Bandcamp
Spotify
Genre: Metalcore, Death Metal, Metal.
FFO: The Acacia Strain, Of Virtue, August Burns Red, Parkway Drive, After the Burial.
Review By: Kara Ketchum
Align the Tide, the metalheads from Malta, are back. With their release, Hollow,Align the Tide brings a crisp and in-your-face approach to death metal. The band prides themselves on having dipped their toes in many genres, and the technical influence makes itself known. Following up on their previous release, Dead Religion, this album is full of growth, showing that Align the Tide has already carved their space in the scene and become quite comfortable.
The opening, and title track, “Hollow” is but a haunting taster to what the rest of the release brings. The album’s overarching theme is mental health, and this alludes to the fact that the thematic ride will be a bumpy one. A rushed, thrashing opening brings us to “Alive” and keeps the pace until a rather hardcore punk bridge. This song is meant to be listened to live in a pit, with its groove and churning riffs. The notable aspect of this song is the varied guitar tones and the skills of who’s playing it, the thread holding this song together as it spans genres.
“Judgment”, the third track, is a sonic assault in the best way. Heavy, guttural, and just plain dark, the song jumps between feeling like a drudge and absolutely manic, finishing on that frantic note. There is a short interlude before the chaos starts again for the aptly named fourth track, “Psycho”. This track holds probably the best vocal performance on the album, hitting highs and brutal lows. While it is incredibly hard to choose, this is probably my favorite track on the album – a speedy, gripping, party of a song.
Following up with “Unbreakable”, the fifth song on the album, is the perfect pairing to the previous track. It still has an air of unpredictability about it, but the different sections of the song all reign themselves back in for a tightly controlled chorus.
The sixth track, “Arise”, starts as if we’re going to get an emotional ballad before exploding into the heaviness we’ve come to expect from this album. An uplifting message in partnership with speeding drums and deep string tones makes for a delightful listen. This is opposed by an attitude-laden opening on “Twisted Caricature” that is in your face before breaking away to a groovy verse, an equally snarky chorus, and an abrupt but pointed ending.
In the final stretch of the album, we have an ambient start to “The Cost.” This song is a classic example of “death metal” and would be the dictionary definition of such. A staccato bridge and a bait-n-switch acoustic interlude round out the song to be more dynamic than your normal “metal” faire. The ending, a rushed, passionate fragment of the song, literally gives the heart butterflies. Track nine “False Existence” is if you took a classic two-step beat and built upon it. The bass really shines in this song, bringing a sludge-y, muddy feeling to an already heavy installment. The album then ends with “Silent” which is anything but. Keeping the energy of groove, heaviness, and emotion, the last song on the album is just as strong as the beginning.
My 5 out of 5’s come rare since starting reviews for Metal Epidemic, but is rightfully deserved for Hollow. Align the Tide have something special on their hands with this one, and I feel this album could truly make anyone on the edge of being a fan of the genre fully convert. 
(5 / 5)
