Bride: Are You Awake |

Portraits Of A Forgotten Time

(2023 – Retroactive Records)

Let’s suppose that whoever reads this review is someone who last listened to Bride’s good works from the ’90s and suddenly finds this new album. Clearly “Are You Awake” would be the natural connection between that Bride and this one of these years, but, in the middle a lot of water ran and “things happened”, as a famous ex-president from Argentina would say. Anyway, that a band that already exceeds 40 years of existence as Bride, is still active is not only good news but it shows that the best of music must have happened between the ’80s and ’90s, particularly for a band like Bride, and where it clearly points to with this new work.

Reminiscing a bit, for those who don’t know Bride, the band started back in 1984 in Heavy Metal format and then in the nineties acquired a physiognomy more rooted in Hard Rock and then took a false step in the XXI century with a more “modern” and alternative sound. That’s where, at least for me, I lost track of them until I found this new album, which tries to return to what meant their most successful stage.
Of course, not even the smell of the Heavy Metal of the first era is left and it’s difficult for Bride to return to that stage; on the other hand, in “Are You Awake” there is a tremendous smell of the era of “Snakes In The Playground” or “Kinetic Faith” or even the best Skid Row, mediated with some elements taken from their less brilliant era (read “Fist Full Of Bees”). But what’s the difference? Even today Bride knows how to deliver at last a good album, entertaining, worthy of their best periods. It’s true, there is still some rapping by Dale Thompson, but that’s just an anecdotal fact. The general line is the rabid and furious Hard Rock that we missed so much in Bride.
What to say, this “Are You Awake” pushes me to listen to it again and again. The album really splits heads, uncovers ears and blows wigs off. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to an album and Bride is the unmistakable culprit of the fact that many of the songs inserted in this very good work keep echoing in my head.
Under the command of the Thompson brothers (Dale on vocals and Troy on guitar) plus the contribution of Greg Campbell on bass and Alexandre Aposan on drums (who apparently are more supporting actors than active members of the band), Bride returns to a more basic sound and without so much extravagance, putting much emphasis on Troy Thompon’s guitar, whose sound is fundamental in the final result. The use of different sounds, orchestrations, furious riffs and great solos in each of the songs, is the highest point musically speaking. The toms and timbales of the drums also add a lot to the sound and not to mention Campbell’s good bass work. We are talking about just enough to achieve what they say, a good album. Without experimenting too much but not exposing themselves unnecessarily. Regarding Dale Thompson’s vocals, yes, it seems that the years have not dented his distinctive voice, which he uses to its fullest potential and in the style that best suits him.
Anyway, the most important of this production are the songs themselves, and it is fair to say that “Are You Awake” has them, and if you do not believe me, there you have “Ain’t No Loser”, the opening track of this album and that justifies to a great extent the totality of the album. With 12 tracks of pure fury, we can find songs like “I Want To Live Again” or “Under My Skin” that even add a catchy chorus. The classic and obligatory ballad in a Bride album could not be missing, that’s why the inclusion of “All I Wanted”, with an interesting string arrangement, is not surprising. The total surprise comes with the last track, “Pull The Trigger”, the “heaviest” song on the album, with a nod to Thrash Metal so to speak. In “12 O’Clock Apocalypse” and “On With The Show” we notice the missing link with the less classic and more modern Bride. There are also powerful songs like “We’re All Going To Die” or “Human State” that follow the line to which we have already referred, rounding up an excellent work, with good songs and that honors the history of Bride. That is the most important thing.
Regarding the technical aspect of “Are You Awake”, it has a great sound and a mix that we found to be in accordance. The final sound is very good, according to the current times. It is produced and mixed by Nenel Lucena, and they forgot to tell us in which recording studio this album was recorded and the time where it was recorded. A bit simplistic all the technical stuff. Not so the graphic part that gives us, a slightly psychedelic cover, a mixture of a painting by Miró and Picasso, to rave a little if you want to see it that way (I am an admirer but not a fan of art, I clarify), but it appears as something original. The rest of the inner envelope follows the same line of the cover art with only two photographs, the one of the Thompson brothers, without including those of the musicians that accompanied them this time. Badly, but of course, from the musical, artistic and image point of view, it is more than clear that Bride and the Thompson brothers are synonymous, in case someone didn’t notice. Regarding the lyrics, they have the same character as always, Christian and direct, although I found the lyrics of “Ain’t No Loser” very interesting, talking about social discrimination, as well as in “Under My Skin”. In “Hammer Down” we find some words in Portuguese, perhaps in appreciation of the great reception that Bride has in Brazil.

If at some point we thought that Bride, as a band, was in a coma after not entirely digestible sonic experiments, a work like “Are You Wake” leaves as a conclusion that Bride still can (and should) move forward, appealing to what the Thompson brothers know how to do, leaving aside less attractive experiments. Let’s hope that the band will definitely continue on this path, although of course, I personally think how good it would be to return to the sound of the very first times in which Bride made Metal their north, while with “Are You Awake” we have something to entertain and like ……

This work can be purchased in physical format (which we always recommend) and digitally at https://www.bridepub.com.