| Musical Style: Hard Rock | Produced By: |
| Record Label: Independent | Country Of Origin: USA & Brazil |
| Year Released: 2025 | Artist Website: Bride |
| Tracks: 10 / 10 | Rating: 85% |
| Running Time: 41:30 / 42:28 |
Bride hasn’t been short of plaudits in the pages of Angelic Warlord, be it the heavy metal to its inaugural eighties material, blues based hard rock of that following in the early nineties or acoustic rock excursion for the mid-nineties. The Louisville, Kentucky based act might have branched out into modern rock as the nineties progressed and even rap core following the turn of the century but revisited its hard rock and metal roots remainder of the 2000’s. Bride maintained the musical continuity into the 2010’s and beyond with a trio of albums that in my opinion are solid as anything it has recorded throughout its storied career, beginning with 2018 release Snake Eyes (90% Angelic Warlord review) but including also 2020 and 2023 follow up efforts Here Is Your God and Are You Awake (each 95%), respectively.
How does Bride’s most recent offering the independently released May of 2025 two CD set Vipers & Shadows measure up? With each disc home to ten songs and first entitled Vipers and second Shadows, album finds Bride carrying over its signature blues based hard rock sound with the occasional leaning towards metal territory. When at its best Viper & Shadows reaches similar musical heights as its noted three predecessors but also faces challenges in terms of consistency. Perhaps it is due to the sheer volume of material in featuring 20 songs, but Vipers & Shadows includes a couple I skip over and several others in the medium to good range. That said, and to be completely fair, boil the album down to its best 12 to 13 songs and you have another standout work I also grade in the 90% to 95% range. Point being founding members Dale (lead vocals) and Tory (multi-instrumentalist) deserve a great deal of credit for owning the ambition to create a double album not to mention the high volume of quality material to pull it off.
Vipers
First three Vipers songs find Bride firing on all cylinders. Opener “Million Miles” proves a befitting hard rocker wrought by searing guitars, catchy incentive and vehement bearing, and successor “Anytime I Call On You” a hook driven monster opening to cello that gives way to the puncturing mid-paced bent and high-energy outbursts conveying its span. Rounding out the trio is “Take It Out On Me”, a catchy pillager with a seamless adjoining of staggering rhythm guitar and melodic laid-back groove. Innate to the three is Troy Thompson’s at times bluesy and others melodic lead guitar work.
Of equal form is “Black Kiss”, a dusky plodder innate to a moody and melancholic acoustic vibe touching upon the Gothic, and “Wrath”, one of albums heaviest with a metal burnishing reflecting the terse and succinct but interspersed with periodic ethereal feedback. “It’s A Living Hell” maintains the form with a uniting of hard rock and the acoustic as a preeminent refrain wins over at once and lead guitar revels in the dashing. The trio finds Dale Thompson remaining in top vocal form with his at times raspy and edgy and others blues soaked vocal proclivity.
“Fall To The Pieces” and “In One Life” are also good but I rank a notch below from choruses that do not hit to quite the same extent as albums better material. Former succeeds with its drubbing mid-paced capacity as groovy to funk elements and lower register vocals converge, while latter also proves solid from transitioning between empowering moments and others settling down to the stilly done. Attributing to the two is depth to albums production, revealing a clarity allowing for a seamless mix of bass and guitar leads alongside emphatic rhythm guitar and substantial low end.
I only skip over two of the ten songs. “Beginning Of Sorry” might stay true to the Bride heavy rocking nucleus but falls short in the catchy hooks department with result the non-descript and “No Better Time” a similar form as a slower, bass heavy cudgeller, although in like fashion the hooks to pull in also fail to reveal. I do not intend to be unfair in that any double album with twenty tracks potentially is going to include some chaff- or at the very least, each song is not going to appeal to every listener.
Shadows
Shadow starts to one of its finer cuts in the catchy and hook driven groove of “Whacha Doin Out There” and closes in comparable strong manner to the chilling aligning of the acoustic and heavier that is “All Of My Life”. A commercial component of a radio friendly semblance divulges on that preceding and ballad like moving emotion touching upon the heartfelt to the succeeding.
In between Shadows delivers its share of superb gems. It begins with “Higher” realized in its anthem like metal and hard rock residuals (the higher, higher walking in the fire refrain demands immediate attention) but also includes “Can You Stoke The Fire” indicating its blues edged guitars and truncheon like low end (noting the stellar work of timekeeper Alexandre Aposan). “Deliver Us From Evil” entices equally as another heavier cut with haunting riffs and a darker semblance not unlike 2006 album (and 90% Angelic Warlord graded) Skin For Skin- the baleful metal signatures cannot be denied. The lead guitar work on the three is nothing less than immaculate.
A bit outside the box but of equal caliber is “Rescue Me” in revealing a borderline modern sound with distorted bass, eerie feedback and distinguished keyboards reminding of Dale’s The World Will Burn side project. Carrying over the differing form is “Tried On The Outside” with an acoustic classic rock bent rooted in haunting melody and soaring harmonies in addition to “Tried So Hard” in analogous acoustic fringed direction its first half but picking up to heavier rocking status the second. Of note is manner in which Troy bestows to the three his multi-instrumental proclivity in use of violin, cello, sitar and mandolin.
While on Shadows I do not hit the skip button, it includes two cuts in my opinion are a slight step down, albeit still good. “Live And Love” is a commendable but scant hard rocker with spoken word vocals and cello driven instrumental moments, while “Name Of The Game” uplifts a straightforward demeanor to go alongside a chanted refrain and shining guitar melodies.
Summary
I find Vipers And Shadows boils down to fourteen great songs that when assessed as a singular unit equate to a score in the 90% to 95% range. Excellent production and abundant musicianship represent added strengths. With such a high volume of topnotch material in its possession - noting four additional songs in which I rate good to very good - I understand why Bride went the double album route. Actually, triple album might be the more accurate indicator in that Bride released at the same time the fourth installment in its Lost Reels series featuring ten additional songs recorded during the Vipers And Shadows sessions that did not make the final cut. Give Bride credit for its prolific songwriting abilities. If an fan of Snake Eyes, Here Is Your God and Are You Awake not to mention Bride’s early nineties material, Vipers And Shadows represents an essential purchase.
Review by Andrew Rockwell
Track Listing (Vipers): “Million Miles” (4:25), “Anytime I Call On You” (4:06), “Take It Out On Me” (4:16), “Fall To The Pieces” (4:03), “Beginning Of Sorry” (3:42), “No Better Time” (3:20), “Black Kiss” (4:01), “Wrath” (4:46), “It’s A Living Hell” (4:26), “In One Life” (4:22)
Track Listing (Shadows): “Whacha Doin Out There” (4:02), “Higher” (4:10), “Live And Love” (4:23), “Deliver Us From Evil” (3:48), “Can You Stoke The Fire” (4:04), “Rescue Me” (4:11), “Tried So Hard” (4:28), “Name Of The Game” (4:45), “Tried On The Outside” (4:42), “All Of My Life” (3:51)
Musician
Dale Thompson - Lead Vocals
Troy Thompson - Guitar, Violin, Cello, Piano, Keys, Sitar & Mandolin
Nenel Lucena - Bass
Alexandre Aposan - Drums
Additional Musicians
Jean Carllos - Keyboards
