Did you know: Because they often combine classical
music and technical metal, Tourniquet’s music has been
described as Beethoven meets Frankenstein!
MUSIC
REVIEW
T
Artist:
TOURNIQUET
Album:
ONWARD TO FREEDOM
Rating:
Genre:
Thrash, Metal, Metalcore,
Hard Rock
For Fans Of:
Disciple, For Today,
Megadeth
ourniquet are a band that is
known by their fans for their
often intense thrash sound and
in-your-face lyrics that speak on issues such
as faith, God, and animal rights. Onward to
Freedom is Tourniquet’s latest offering.
With founder and drummer Ted Kirkpatrick
at the helm, Onward to Freedom features
an all star line up of guest singers and
musicians including Michael Sweet
(Stryper), Mattie Montgomery (For Today),
Dug Pinnick (King’s X), and Kevin Young
(Disciple). Because of this, Onward to
Freedom is a musically diverse album. With
a thrash metal foundation, Ted and Co.
work hard to also incorporate elements of
metalcore, heavy metal, neo-classical, and
hard rock into this album, giving it a
massive scope, musically speaking.
Label:
Pathogenic Records
Band Website:
www.Tourniquet.net
Reviewed by:
Christian St John
Release Date:
Available Now
58 > CHRISTIAN REVIEW
As an album, Onward to Freedom is quite
unique - this time round every song focuses
on animal cruelty and animal rights. As
such, the lyrics are all about all about
animal cruelty and rights, so there are no
faith lyrics on this one. Instead we get a
look at animals and their relationship with
humans.
“The Slave Ring” takes a look at the illegal
world of dog fighting, “If I Had To Do the
Killing” asks the question whether you
could look an animal in the face and then
kill them to eat them, and “Drowning In
Air” tackles the issue of humans raping and
polluting the oceans. Veteran actor, Ed
Asner, lends his voice to narrate the
powerful spoken word track,“The Nobel
Case for Mercy” which really brings home
the overall message of the album. There’s
also an excellent new version of the
Tourniquet classic, “Stereotaxic Atrocities,”
a track taken from their first album.
For 25 years Tourniquet’s music has
taken fans on an hard musical odyssey
from all out thrash to stoner metal to hard
rock to hardcore. And they are a band that
rarely fails to impress. This album is no
exception… in my humble opinion it is by
far their best work since Psycho Surgery
(1991). As always the lyrics are hard and
uncompromising, and the music is expertly
written and played, making Onward to
Freedom an auditory treat for fans of the
heavier side of music!