TONA-1000

SKCNS
2008

TONA hail from Serbia and claim influences from punk, metal and other sources. The album is released for SKC NS, a regional government sponsored label that aims to promote alternative culture in Serbia. I can hear different musical genres in their sound here and there although it varies. Sometimes the styles are blended and sometimes one will jump out as being more evident than the others. In many ways they remind me of late 80's early 90's hard rock only with a stronger groove and heavier. One thing a lot of hard rock bands lacked back then was a really solid rhythm section that wasn't afraid to be heard. With TONA we get that and the strong rhythm section gives many of their songs a definite backbone to rely on. The vocals are a little hit and miss for me as they fit at times, but were perhaps a little dry and slightly flat on other songs. The guitars were largely where they should be, certainly varied enough although they could have come up in the mix a little at times. However that would be more of a production issue than a performance problem. They do a decent job of mixing up styles and largely keep things fairly interesting with pace changes and having different bits thrown in at unexpected places. I know very little about the music scene in Serbia, but these guys get some gigs because they have the kind of layered sound and enough talent that makes me think they could cut loose live. Overall a decent stab at laying down their influences and expanding on ideas as well.

http://www.myspace.com/tonaband