Sunday 8 July 2018

Album Review: TNT - XIII

TNT - XIII

01. We’re Gonna Make It
02. Not Feeling Anything
03. Fair Warning
04. It’s Electric
05. Where You Belong
06. Can’t Breathe Anymore
07. Get Ready For Some Hard Rock
08. People, Come Together
09. Tears In My Eyes
10. 17th Of May
11. Catch A Wave
12. Sunshine

After the tedious relationship with 'Classic era' lead singer Tony Harnell, who seemed to quit and re-join the band on a weekly basis, the legendary Norwegian Metallers have found a new singer in the form of Spain's super-talented Baol Bardot Bulsara. Naturally, Tony's absence will disappoint some old school fans, but given the turbulence (let's not forget Tony even joined Skid Row and that ended within a year), it's totally understandable that TNT wanted to move forward and start a brand-new chapter of the band, despite these arguably being their twilight years.

There will be no prizes awarded for guessing that XIII is TNT's 13th studio album. Musically, XIII doesn't really hold many surprises either. In fairness, playing it safe was probably a wise move for the band at this time especially as this is the first record with a new vocalist replacing such an undeniably popular one. Baol Bardot Bulsara does an amazing job throughout the new album. XIII is far from perfect, but its faults are not due to the vocals. 

Firstly, the production isn't that great, especially considering that it's 2018. There are artists in this genre, even on the same label, who have records that still hark back to the 80's but still sound absolutely huge (e.g. latest records from W.E.T and Crazy Lixx). There is no excuse for a band as legendary as TNT to put out an album that sounds anything less than stellar. Song wise, it's mostly good, but XIII lacks any truly killer singles. I think they attempted to make one with Get Ready For Some Hard Rock, but ended up making something so painfully cheesy that it's simply not catchy enough to redeem itself. 

There are some decent songs on here, in particular the uplifting slice of AOR gold that is Tears In My Eyes. I just feel that TNT are another of those bands that are musically way past their heyday, and although their current music is 'good', the quality of what they are doing now is disappointing in comparison to their work from their glory years. Like many of their peers, I'm pleased that they're still making music, but I really wanted them to roar back to the scene with something incredible, as opposed to something reasonably enjoyable.

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