Christian Review Magazine Issue 2 - Jan/Feb 2015 | Page 58

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!