Random Musing On... will be my thoughts on a particular band, which I will not think about before I write a review. Completely stream-of-consciousness. If it seems a little disjointed, that is why. Ye hath been warned.
Random Musings On...
Tourniquet is a 90's Christian progressive thrash band. I'll say it again. They are a
90's Christian progressive thrash band. How is that even possible? I'm not sure, but it happened. And believe it or not, they don't suck!
...Usually.
Their problem, like most Christian metal acts from the time period, is that they can be quite preachy on some songs, and in a way that is incredibly annoying. Mind you, I am a Christian, and it can bug even me. Thankfully, they don't stoop to this on all of their work, and quite honestly, I think that the group jumped to this when they could no longer think up creative lyrics for otherwise fantastic songs.
Speaking of the singing, they have two. Singers, that is. The two men (whatever their names are), have very different voices. One sings in a deep growl, the other in a strange, higher pitched, somewhat insane screachy voice. His singing can be grating on some songs, which is why I prefer the songs that the other guy is leading.
Which brings me to the next point. The music itself. It is essentially a mixture of thrash metal and classical music, with some jazz influences every once in awhile.. The primary music writer (and drummer), Ted Kirkpatrick, is classically trained and really shows it. The guitar solos he writes would sound more at home to a symphony than a four piece metal band.
Then again, the best of the traditional thrash solos are simply fantastic as well. Some serious head banding material.
A good example of both their weird prog stuff and their ripping thrash is on this track, "The Skeezix Dilemma." A good portion of the song is devoted to bizarre, off-kilter carnival music, as well as quite a bit of acoustic guitar noodling. And to top it off, the whole song is about some sort of science fiction board game, which is ITSELF a metaphor for childhood sexual abuse. Pretty good stuff.
But they can also rip out the pure thrash. On this song, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance," they start off sounding like Testament, and then without warning turn into Saint Vitus, and then back to Testament. I was completely obsessed with this song for a few weeks back in February.
If you like these two tracks, I highly suggest grabbing the album that they are both from, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance." Although it is not perfect, it's worth grabbing. Unfortunately, the only other album worth getting is "Psycho Surgery." Aside from these two gems, their work is a mess of good songs in just okay/bad/awful albums.
Essentially, Tourniquet, as a band can either be spectacular, or awful. At their best they are a genius thrash band with creative riffs, random time signature changes, beastly guitar solos, and absolutely insane drumming. At their worst they are a good band with uncreative