{"id":6470,"date":"2018-04-29T17:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.progradar.org\/?p=6470"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:55:19","slug":"review-the-slyde-awakening-by-progradar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progradar.co.uk\/index.php\/2018\/04\/29\/review-the-slyde-awakening-by-progradar\/","title":{"rendered":"Review – The Slyde – Awakening – by Progradar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There’s some powerhouse artists that have come out of Canada, Rush<\/strong> and Bryan Adams<\/strong> immediately come to mind, but it’s not known as a hotbed of emerging talent on the whole.<\/p>\n

Last year I reviewed an EP full of intelligent and complex ‘heavy-prog’ <\/em>songs that showed a huge amount of promise from four piece Canadian band Slyde<\/strong>. They have taken the four tracks of ‘Back Again’ <\/em>and added six new songs to create their first full-length offering ‘Awakening’ <\/em>and also added ‘The’<\/em> to the front of their name.<\/p>\n

The new tracks are the first six on this impressive release, Nathan Da Silva’s <\/strong>soaring riffs and Sarah Westbrook’s<\/strong> dynamic keyboards dominate the band’s edgy and high energy sound with the energetic and potent rhythm section of Brendan Soares<\/strong> (drums) and Alberto Campuzano <\/strong>(bass) providing the up-tempo drive. This potent brew is topped off with Nathan’s <\/strong>distinctive vocals (comparisons with Geddy Lee<\/strong> are indeed merited) to deliver some quality melodic prog-rock that brings to mind bands like the aforementioned Rush<\/strong> along with Haken<\/strong>, Coheed and Cambria<\/strong> and Circa Survive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The short intro of Awaken <\/strong><\/em>leads you into a powerful collection of tracks that have this forceful and charismatic feel and a seemingly boundless supply of high octane energy that carries you along on a wave of compelling and vitalising music.<\/p>\n

You want a catchy, addictive chorus? The Slyde<\/strong> tick that box, thunderous riffing yep, that too, coruscating guitar solos of course! There’s nothing that this highly impressive collection of musicians seem to have left out of their locker.<\/p>\n

Highlights of the new tracks, for me, are title track Awakening <\/strong><\/em>and So Blind <\/strong><\/em>but every song is a compact ball of progressive magnetism and captivate with equal force and hearing the final four tracks that made up ‘Back Again’ <\/em>brings a huge grin to my face, remembering what I enjoyed about them in the first place, Fading <\/strong><\/em>and Divide <\/strong><\/em>especially.<\/p>\n

The Slyde <\/strong><\/em>have returned with one of the year’s more idiosyncratic and left-field releases and, once again, they deliver a thunderously powerful and yet thought provoking collection of songs with an aggressive and weighty edge but never forgetting that melody is king, highly impressive.<\/p>\n

Released 18th May 2018<\/p>\n

Order ‘Awkening’ from bandcamp here<\/a><\/p>\n