It’s a good thing that baseball season is under way waveriders, because this album came from left field to hit me like a ton of bricks. Seriously, I was in the process of rounding the bases on my way to home plate when out of nowhere a copy of Gods Of Pangea sailed over my head into the catcher’s mitt and I was tagged out. Fortunately I was more mystified and curious than angry, and I decided to fully investigate this mysterious entrant into my realm of consciousness. What kind of name is Tiktaalika anyway?
Tiktaalika, it turns out, is the brainchild of Charlie Griffiths. Charlie Griffiths is one half of the guitar attack for the progressive metal band Haken. The puzzle pieces began falling into place for me when I learned that fact. You see, I remember trying to jump onboard the Haken appreciation train many years ago. For whatever reason, I bounced off Haken pretty hard and despite many people whose opinion I greatly respect complimenting the band to no end I’ve simply never found a reason to go back to listen to them. So when I learned of Tiktaalika being related to Haken, I wasn’t filled with an overwhelming urgency to sample the music.
Thank goodness some invisible hand/cosmic guiding force led me to give this album a chance. Gods Of Pangea immediately leaped right into my Top 5 albums of 2025 list and I don’t foresee it relinquishing it’s position. If you love classic Megadeth you will flip your lid over the three songs on Gods Of Pangea sung by Daniel De Jongh (from a band called Textures). Those songs are album opener “Tyrannicide”, the title track, and “Give Up The Ghost”. The riffs will endearingly slap you across your face, and the vocalist sounds very much like Dave Mustaine. “Fault Lines” is sung by Rody Walker (from Protest The Hero) and to my ears is a near perfect combination of Anthrax and Testament. Tommy Giles Rogers, Jr (from Between The Buried And Me) handles the epic “Lost Continent” and his growls fit seamlessly with the And Justice For All Metallica-esque riffing which fills the verses.
The only bad news I have is that if you are needing a reprieve from the stupendous riffing taking place, you have an exceedingly small window of time to get what you need. The sole opportunity to rest your neck and catch your breath comes at the halfway point of the album (not counting the bonus track “Chicxulub”) during the first two minutes of “Mesozoic Mantras” sung by Vladimir Lalic. That’s all you get before Charlie Griffiths turns the riffing back up to eleven and resumes shifting the tectonic plates underneath your feet.
Waveriders I love this album! I love everything about it! The compositions, the vocalists chosen to help bring those compositions to life, the overarching concept, the stunning album artwork, the music videos with their clever references to the classics which inspired these tunes. I love it all! Do…not…sleep…on this album.
-Penfold
P.S.: Thanks to this album I’ve discovered that I owe Haken a pretty big apology. I don’t know why I didn’t enjoy that band before, and I don’t know what to say. I guess I’ve grown? Guess we’ll see.
Comments