Tourniquet has finally returned to the progressive speed/thrash metal form fans have wished for ever since the band left it in 1993 after Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. The dozens of buzzing and clean guitar tones, time and tempo changes, sick leads, mad drumming, and added flute and cello are all back with whirlwind vengeance. It's not the brute force assault of most extreme metal, but rather, a lightning speed attack that never lets up and hits you a hundred places at once. Tourniquet have learned the one thing most metal bands unfortunately forget: make each song different from the others. They work hard at variety. Almost to a fault; the variety of riffs and vocal styles even within each song is so overwhelming that it still takes many listens for the tracks to really stand alone from each other. They need to re-learn the second lesson, which they (though the only original member is Ted Kirkpatrick) had a firm grasp on in the early days: the variety needs to be bound to songwriting and not let loose for its own sake. Sometimes they succeed in this, but at others you get the feeling they're just throwing that acoustic break or third drum solo in for the heck of it.
Listening to Aaron Guerra and Ted Kirkpatrick's tight and technical mastery of guitars, bass, and drums has to be the greatest pleasure in the world for any guitarist or drummer (aside from playing themselves)--but Luke Easter's vocals are seriously off. He has three basic styles (with variations): tough metal yell-singing, grunt-like hardcore shouting, and soft ballad singing. Only the first one is listenable; the other two seem terribly mismatched to the music and are only bearable if you focus intently on the brilliant musicianship and crisp sonics. A few times he tries different things like zombie rasping and death-like vocals, and these actually work better with the music than any of his other attempts. The devoted fan has grown used to him, but he continues Tourniquet's traditional turn-off of bad vocals (Guy Ritter wasn't much better), which keeps their fanbase from growing among metalheads and musicians.
Their lyrics revisit favorite themes of faith, sin, and struggle, cloaked in familiar imagery of destruction, suffering, and violence--all meant to convey the severity of our situation as fallen people who need to let our wounds be bound up before we die on the battlefield of life. From "Erratic Palpitations of the Human Spirit":
When you think that you've arrived
thousands more you have to drive
Like a hand springing from the carnal six foot soil
Buried many years ago never more again recoil
When you think you stand alone you will fall despite your toil
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Scotty TeemsWhen was the last time you were bludgeoned by music? That seems to be one of the very few phrases I can find to accurately describe the sheer volume and mass of Tourniquet's latest disc, Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm. This collection of eleven bruising and brooding numbers takes the speed metal Tourniquet fans are so familiar with and, well, leaves it alone. How refreshing it is to hear…7ball #31Reviewed by David MuttilloEarly in Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm, Tourniquet quotes Bach's humble description of his great music: "They're simply notes put together in bars." Much like that great classical composer of old, the sum of this trio's output is much greater than just so many creatively arranged notes from a scale. It's easy to fall for such an assumption, though, since nobody can cram as many notes…HM Magazine #82Reviewed by Doug Van PeltOh yeah! The intro to this album ("Besprinkled in Scarlet Horror") ends all the speculation - Tourniquet is not experimenting with a new sound anymore . . . they're blowing your head off with blazing heavy metal. Fans of Tourniquet's first three albums will feel like they're getting the follow-up to Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance with its biting and rising guitar scales. There's a harpsichord break…Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestWhen you start this disc you might think you're listening to a funeral service. You hear a slowly murmuring church organ. But then, after ten seconds, this is brutally interrupted by an aggressive outburst of Tourniquet. And on this new album Tourniquet stands for Metal with the capital M as they go back to the sounds and ideas as captured on the Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance album. Not only…The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Tony LaFianzaWith Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm, Tourniquet is back on several levels. They're back to speed metal, back to electric guitars, back to horrific CD covers, back to everything that fans have loved about the band for ten years. They've also come back on a secular label, Metal Blade, which has been releasing Christian favorites King's X and Galactic Cowboys for many years. Ted Kirkpatrick…Similar sounding releases
2001Stretch Arm StrongA Revolution Transmission
1993Jesus FreaksSocially Unacceptable
2001MortificationThe Silver Cord Is Severed
1991The CrucifiedPillars of Humanity
1998OpethMy Arms, Your Hearse
1999The BlamedForeverMore from Tourniquet
1998Live in California
2003Where Moth And Rust Destroy
1995Carry The Wounded
1992Video Biopsy (Video)
1998Acoustic Archives
1991Psycho Surgery
