Tora! Tora! Torrance!
A Cynics Nightmare (2003)
Greg
So, Tora! Tora! Torrance!, huh? Hmmâ¦I'm up in the air about these guys. They have passion, that is for sure, so points for that. But as far as the actual music is concerned, I can't decide how much I like it. I have not heard their first album "Get into It" but I have heard that this is an improvement. But for now, I will just have to review this alone.
TTT! plays gritty, sometimes chaotic garage-rock meets post-punk, if that even means anything at all. I would compare them most to International Noise Consipracy (these guys even have the organ now and then), with maybe a dash of The Blood Brothers' more straightforward moments. The vocals also sound like a crazy mix of the singers from those two groups, if they were trying to imitate Steve from Hot Hot Heat. This could be a good thing, but what does it really sound like? Weird, almost annoying at first. He sort of half-sings, half-yells everything, and is very monotone yet energetic. But with the wall of sound TTT has, I don't know if I could imagine it any other way.
The album starts off with a bang with "Yr All on our Dance Card" which is hard hitting, and is instantly singable with the "Yeah, yeah, yeah / What, what, what?" (I think he's saying "what") and then the first lines of "What's wrong with a little monogamy? / What's wrong with you? / What's wrong with me?" in this song about drinking, drugs and sex. The track also has a sweet bridge with some cowbell action, and has a false ending that's cool rather than annoying.
For there on, the album maintains it's energy and only slows down at a few moments like the title track, but even that sustains the albums energy with it's full-on assault moments and others moments with some breathing room, with twisting guitar and bass lines. "Dr. Badd" is a solid tune with a great chorus that doubles-up the time from the verse, and has a cool odd-measure grouping for a different recycling feel of the riff. The last track "UFO" is a waste though, it is merely noise and random hits and synth squeals that never turn into much of a song.
I know my comments have seemed mostly positive, but I still am not sure about TTT. The songs tend to blend together in my head, and I cannot understand the majority of the vocals except the ones in the song titles (and those very first lines of the album mentioned earlier). I wish the vocals were a little more than bottled energy and that I could sing along. But they are trying to do something different by building on the garage-rock thing, and I feel they have succeeded. Everyone should give TTT a chance individually and decide for yourself, I think it's just a matter of opinion with these guys.