TNT- All the way to the sun
This isn't going to be a real proper review (as proper as mine tend to be), but just some brief thoughts while they are fresh in my head. This is TNT's new album and it just came out in I believe October so it is fairly new. I have heard very few new albums this year, but decided to buy this one based on some reviews and the songs I heard off the last album. The first time I heard this band was on a late night metal show back in 1985 when they played Deadly Metal off of the band's Knights of the new thunder album. I have probably only heard half of the band's releases, but I have enjoyed all of them. The first thing I noticed before putting the new disc in was the absence of long time bass player Morty Black. I don't know why he is gone, but they apparently had a session player in and the band picture shows them without a bass player. The band have experimented a little with different sounds over the years, but basically they have been a commercial hard rock band. The first several tracks display a much more even sound than the band has displayed in the past. Even in a sense that the songs are smooth and tight, but perhaps a little predictable. As far as style, the first almost half of the album shows some influence of say a less funky Extreme and perhaps Sammy Hagar era Van Halen. Then somewhere around the middle of the album we start to get more songs that have the TNT quirkiness that is normally included in a few tracks on their albums. I mean quirky in a good, unexpected kind of way as this normally included some surprising pace changes and vocal asides. Some reviews complained that the album didn't have one overall sound to it and I found that to be a strange comment as most of their albums have never had one specific sound. I have always found this to be something that has set the band apart. The biggest positive surprise for me was the vocals as Tony Harnell has never sounded better in my opinion. I still have problems taking his vocals from say their first few albums as he comes on bit strong, but he sounds very good on this album. One the other hand, Ronnie Le Tekro's solos have always been one of the strongest points to this band and there just are not enough of them here. Some times his parts are just buried a bit too much behind the scenes. It is a very commercial hard rock album, but a very enjoyable album as I have already listened to it four times and I have had it less than a week. I think this band should be proud of the new album and I am always glad to hear a band who has been around for 20+ years that can still put out a quality recording.
2 Comments:
I'm glad to hear that some bands still have it. I was pleasantly surprised with Priest's studio album early this year--probably because my expectations were so low. I'll have to check this one out, too ... thanks.
-- david
I thought that Priest's Angel of retribution was very hit and miss. However my expectations may have been a little high because most of Rob Halford's post Priest projects were good and I thought he would bring that back to his old band. Now I want to check out TNT's 2004 effort My Religion. It received a lot of positive reviews.
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