Publication: Eclipsed
Country Of Origin: Germany
Review Date: February 2008
Reviewer: Unknown
Transcription: Al Grabenstein

Rating: 6 of 10 points

In their fifth album, the men from Detroit around Chris Herin, songwriter-in-chief and lead guitar, limit their penchant for epic long tracks, of which they apparently had their fill in their last album, "Window Dressing," to a maximum length of eight minutes and instead refine their guitar sounds even more. In a total of eight songs, produced by Rush sound engineer Terry Brown, drums and breakneck string riffs chase each other, well packaged in hard rocking, yet quite catchy songs, even if they shine every now and then with unusual rhythm sequences. With their dominance of guitars, Tiles are reminiscent of jam bands such as Umphrey's McGee, while the six-string sounds give rise to thoughts of Led Zeppelin ("Hide in my Shadow," "Dragons, Dreams and Daring Deeds"). Every now and then there is the sound of a mandolin ("Sacred & Mundane"), then some Latin American flair, however, unfortunately, always much too brief. In general, the sound of the album remains all too uniform to be really able to convince completely.