Tantric – The End Begins (Release Year – 2008)
“The End Begins” is an appropriate title for Tantric’s first album in four years. After recording the follow-up to 2004’s “After We Go” the band watched as the album was shelved and forgotten by Maverick Records. This eventually led to the three original members, Jesse Vest, Todd Whitener, and Matt Taul walking away leaving vocalist Hugo Ferreira to soldier on alone. Instead of fighting to get “Tantric III” released Ferreira decided to start fresh with new members Kevin Miller, formerly of Fuel, on drums, Erik Leonhardt on bass, Marcus Ratzenboeck on electric violin (???) and guitarist Joe Pessia, who had previously played in Dramagods with none other than Nuno Bettencourt and Kevin Figueiredo from Extreme.
Everything gets started with “Regret”, which sounds a like bit like “the Cult meets Cold” with the opening guitar and Ferreira’s vocal style. Joe Pessia may not have the worshippers of the Guitar Gods bowing at his feet, but he is able to pull off a nice solo and after a couple of listens you will find yourself tapping your feet and playing air drums on the steering wheel as you are driving down the road.
Next up is the lead off single and video “Down & Out”, I think the song stands much better by itself than with the video which is the way it is supposed to be. It took me a while to get into the song because it reminds me of the rap/rock days which I am not very fond of. Electric violinist, Marcus Ratzenboeck makes the most of his chance to stand in the rock n’ roll spotlight with a nice piece of playing throughout.
The third track “the One” was originally recorded for the afore mentioned Tantric III. Ferreira decided to recut the track as a duet with Candlebox’s Kevin Martin. Both singers go back and forth trading the lyrics which in my opinion works as “the One” is my favorite song on this album and it should be a big hit on Modern Rock Radio.
I was a little turned off by the jazz feel of “Love Song” but it picks up at the chorus after which I found myself able to get into it a little more. A few other songs I was able to get into were Wishing, Lucky One, Why Don’t You, and Lay.
Now “The End Begins” isn’t going to change the rock n’ roll world, but then again I can only think of a handful of bands or artists that have ever done that. What this release is going to give the fans of “post grunge” music and rock in general is a pretty solid performance from beginning to end. If you were a fan of Tantric before you will be a fan after hearing “the End Begins” if you weren’t a fan before, Ferreira and his boys might be able to open your ears with some nice musicianship throughout.
For more information on Tantric. Check out their myspace page.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Regret
2. Down And Out
3. The One (Clean)
4. Love Song
5. Wishing
6. Something Better
7. Lucky One
8. The End Begins
9. Monopoly (Clean)
10. Why Don’t You
11. Lay
Tantric is:
Hugo Ferreira – Vocals
Joe Pessia – Guitars
Erik Leonhardt – Bass
Kevin Miller – Drums
Marcus Ratzenboeck – Electric Violin
Reviewed by Rocknrollcoastie
I may be a little biased, because I am on the same label as Tantric, but I think Hugo and the boys along with producer Toby Wright made a great album. It sounds like the old Tantric, but with a new twist. My hat is off to you, Hugo!