Tiger Army- Music From Regions Beyond

This is Tiger Army's fourth album. It was released in 2007, to furious howls of "sellout" from many of the bands' previous fans. 

Prelude: Signal Return and Hotprowl form a rousing phsychobilly opening. Although it is kinda false advertising for the rest of the album, it sure gets the blood pumping.

Afterworld and Spring Forward retain the action-packed psychobilly musical, overlaying it with soft and poetic lyrics. I reckon the contrast works a treat, like a rockabilly version of decemberunderground. Ghosts of Memory follows the same recipe, with some stunning poetic lyrics. For example:
Faded purfume in a room
Once a sanctuary, now simply a tomb

Forever Fades Away moves more into emo ballad territory (or perhaps "pop goth-punk ballad" if you find the term "emo" insulting...) I really dig it- highlights include the opening riff with hi-hat accompaniment and the perfect pop/headbanging chorus. The rockabilly purists can get stuffed, I'm a big fan of this "AFI with a coiffure" sound. In my book, it makes for the perfect power ballad.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with the bands' traditional sound, as shown by LunaTone. Nothing says I can't like both aspects of the band! LunaTone execute the style very well, although I find that Pain has cheesy lyrics and an awful ringing sound, I think from the cymbals.

While I'm moaning about recording quality, the drum sound throughout the album is quite smeared. Although maybe this is for the best, so that it doesn't sound too "slick" and commercial. The guitar sound is appropriate for the job, and I always love the sound of a double bass.

As the Cold Rain Falls is, objectively, a solid song. However it doesn't speak to me, somehow feeling like the lyrics are disconnected from the music. On the plus side, the chorus is pop/emo brilliance.

Hechizo de Amor is simply beautiful. The Spanish style of both the vocals and the music creates a stunning oddball of a song.

Finally, the icing on the cake is Where the Moss Slowly Grows. As always, the lyrics are brilliant, as is the gentle mood created by the background voices.
Embrace- this joy, this pain
Don't miss this chance, it will not come again.
You mean more than you may ever know.
Don't linger- where the moss slowly grows.

 

Or, as I believe the kids would say... YOLO.

 

Favourite songs

Afterworld, Forever Fades Away, Ghosts of Memory, LunaTone, Hechizo de Amor, Spring Forward, Where the Moss Slowly Grows

Worthwhile?

I must admit I was initially sceptical when reviewing this album, because when listening to it on the train a few times recently, it kinda washed over me without making an impact. But making to the effort to properly concentrate on it has revealed a brilliant album.