Back on the Road

TNT

British act TNT (not to be confused with the awesome melodic/power metal band from Norway) hailed from Kent, and were lucky enough to hook up with the famous and revered NWOBHM label Neat Records (famous for bands like Fist and Atomkraft). Releasing a demo before this official single a couple years earlier, they must have unfortunately failed to capitalize on the release, during the extremely bloated market in 1984 Britain. TNT plays the pretty straightforward NWOBHM style; kinda 70s sounding, fairly laid back, and quite AORish, though not to the point of Praying Mantis, or Snowblind. This one might not blow you away, but will be enjoyed by collectors and fans of this great genre (pretty much my favourite sub-genre). Tryin’ to think of bands to compare them to. Maybe Zenith or Wikkyd Vikker, Ethel the Frog.

‘Back on the Road’ revolves a around layers of vocals in the chorus, creating a decent hook. “Down on the road” etc – good use of backup vocals – kind of poppy and soft sounding. This one is fairly well written, and quite laid back. Your b-side ‘Rockin the Night’, not surprisingly given the title, rocks a little bit harder than the a-side. Guitar solos are pretty decent, and the tough, heavy metal riffs are kind of Saxonish. Actually a pretty decent job by ‘Curly Wobbler’ and Gary Stevenson.; some pretty cool phrasing, especially in this track, but also in the title. Overall, the sound quality of this one isn’t too bad. Lucky to have the Neat Records fortune behind them, these guys were able to get not-too-bad a result with this single, and my guess is it’s a better recording job than on their earlier demo (which I don’t have). Bass is a little too quiet – which isn’t good for NWOBHM. Vocals are nice, and they’re nicely arranged in the title track. Decent stuff here, with the really typical sorta sound. Kinda relaxed; it’s not Savage, it’s not Clientelle, but it’s somewhere in between. The year is 1984 though – year of some pretty landmark NWOBHM, (and also a time when the genre was hardening up significantly) so this could be considered by some to be a bit out of date by this time. Stylistically, this is the sorta stuff that was big in ’79, ’80. Straightforward, yet decently done stuff. If you’re like me and can’t stop until you have all the NWOBHM ever released, then you’ll probably wanna get it.

-DeathRiderDoom