Tantric - Tantric

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Genre: Post-Grunge, Hard Rock
Year: 2001
Place of Origin: Louisville, Kentucky
General Pace: Moderate

Link to full playlist: Tantric (full album)

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Tantric is a band that was originally founded by former members of Days of the New, led most notably by front man Hugo Ferreira's baritone voice and Todd Whitener with his earthy guitarwork and totally, totally tall hair. Essentially what they set out to do was break away from DotN's notoriously self-destructive Travis Meeks. Comparatively, both Tantric and Days of the New are akin to Alice in Chains lite, although it's on their self-titled debut where Tantric would separate from both by defining a more hard-rock sound, instead of being metal or stripped-down, on the ground post-grunge. Also, if you're at all a fan of the dual-vocal harmonies of Chains or DotN (who wouldn't be?), you will enjoy them here as well.

"Breakdown" was their seminal hit and might be the only thing anyone remembers of them. I rocked that song a ton when it was released, but I have to say that it doesn't really sink into my core as much as I'd like it to nowadays. The same can be said for the album as a whole, in that it's aight, but it lacks that extra oomph factor and didn't give me ear erections 20 stories tall. I prefer the earthy, guitar-driven tracks as opposed to the regular 'ol hard rock ones. Sadly, it would be with Whitener's later departure from the band where the acoustic sound would leave Tantric entirely.

Tantric is better for background music while working in the garage or cleaning your place of residence (house, apartment/flat, Winnebago or whatever) as you hop from room to room.

Best Songs: "Breakdown"; "Mourning"; "Astounded"

Would I return to this album?: Rarely.

Trance Central: Volume One

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Genre: Trance
Year: 1995
Album Type: Compilation
Place of Origin: London, United Kingdom
General Pace: Low-moderate

This is a fresh arrival from Belgium that I opened only a few hours ago and have now listened to in its entirety.

A few weeks ago I came across T4L's "Biogenesis" on Pandora, which was listed as being on the album Trance Central: Volume 001. "Right on, right on," I said, followed by, "Why don't I look more into this?" Perused a few music sites from there and learned that 40 songs are on that release. As "luck" would have it, there just so happened to be a lone CD from a third party on Amazon with no photo and zero info on it other than the title Trance Central: Volume One. For all I knew, this could've been a mislisting, but it was dirt cheap and too good to be true, with me potentially getting 40 songs for $5.00 delivered versus $7.99 for the digital experience. Knowing it was a risk and maybe a different album entirely, I took a shot at it anyway and ordered a hard copy. I dunno why, really. I guess it's that electronic hard copies comprise less than one percent of this shelf's collection, as most of what I've added in that arena has been from digital downloads.

Of course, potato and potatoe this was not. There are only twelve songs on Trance Central: Volume One. 001 and One are not interchangeable, as it turns out, and as I half-suspected might be the case. Mostly what's here is a mix of good old-fashioned trance with some hard trance thrown in for good measuring. Nothing much to write home about, but it led to this entry being created, so at least I have that.

Tbh I half enjoyed the rush of being right or wrong and not knowing until the thing showed up, and you can't get that for free on the internet.

Best Song: Slinky Wizard's "Lunar Juice."

Would I return to this album?: No.