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Tourniquet > Onward to Freedom > Reviews
Tourniquet - Onward to Freedom

Onward to Freedom - 80%

Goabnb, February 4th, 2015

Any fan of Tourniquet knows every album they release deserves a listen (with the exception of Crawl to China, but I won’t go there). And Onward to Freedom is certainly no exception.

Even since Tourniquet released Where Moth and Rust Destroy back in 2003, an inconsistent lineup has plagued the band, and guest musicians such as Marty Friedman (Megadeth, Marty Friedman), Bruce Franklin (Trouble) and Karl Sanders (Nile) have provided their talents for studio albums. But all these contributions are overshadowed by the slew of musicians feature on this album. A brief list includes: Tony Palacios (Guardian), Aaron Guerra (Toruniquet), Ed Asner (Famous Actor), Rex Carroll (Whitecross), Michael Sweet (Stryper, Michael Sweet), Mattie Montgomery (For Today), Gabbie Rae (Solo artist – pop rock), Marty Friedman (Megadeth, Marty Friedman), Bruce Franklin (Trouble) and Chris Poland (Megadeth), among others. Based on these names, you know it must be worth a listen at the very least.

Onto the content – any long term listener of Tourniquet will know Ted Kirkpatrick has a passion for ending animal abuse. And that’s the entire concept of this album – indeed, it is a concept album. Thankfully, despite being a vegan, this album isn’t about veganism per say. Only one song could be class as such – If I Had to Do the Killing, which is about questioning if you could still eat meat if you had to kill the animal despite the fear in its eyes. But even many of the guest musicians themselves are not even vegans, and it is not an overpowering theme anyway. Even as a Christian band, there is almost no reference to Christian themes either. The majority of the tracks are focused entirely on stopping animal abuse – the title track Onward to Freedom asks you to show compassion to animals, The Slave Ring is about ending dog fighting, Let the Wild Just be Wild is about stopping the exotic pet trade, Cage 23 is about dogs in the shelter who will inevitably be put down if not adopted, and so on.

As for the music – with such a list of musicians, of course the actual music is going to be diverse. The riffs are all unique and interesting. Although some tracks are primarily instrumentals consisting of sound effects (ie Virtual Embryo) or The Noble Case for Mercy (narrated by actor Ed Asner over softer music), when the songs crank up the gain, with the use of mostly Orange Amps, the distortion is full and crisp. And with the talents of many guitarists like Poland and Friedman, of course the leads are going to be diverse. The drums, like always from Ted Kirkpatrick, are excellent, although maybe just a little quiet in some places. The bass isn’t overly dynamic or diverse, but isn’t hidden behind the guitars either. Being an album from 2014 with the use of modern technology, it is well produced and well mixed.

Ted employs many difference types of vocalists for the album, and they work in some places – Michael Sweet and Gabbie Rae both have an incredible voice – but in other places, I feel they are the weakest part musically. In the title track, the bridge in a typical metalcore breakdown, but unlike most repetitive, unoriginal metalcore bands, the use does not ruin the song at all. Of course this shows a lesson many bands could stand to learn - use breakdowns in moderation. That style of vocals does appear in a few other songs, and while I don’t think it ruins the album at all, I just think they are the weakest link.

My one complaint about the album, if I had to pick one bad element. I think we can all agree Luke Easter is not the best singer in any genre of music, and I don’t mind the material produced in his era as vocalist for the band. But why on earth would you try to ruin a classic Tourniquet track by having Luke Easter sing it? Stereotaxic Atrocities first appeared on the 1991 Tourniquet Album Psychosurgery with Guy Ritter on vocals, and its been re-released here, and if anybody wants to know how to ruin a perfectly good song, this is how you do it. Not even Marty’s leads can save it, it just feels so...uninspired.

Overall, I respect the message Ted is trying to convey, and I suggest you all give it a listen and consider what it is trying to say. As more of a progressive thrash album, the music is of high quality, lacking slightly only in the vocals. Definitely worth a listen.