New Tourniquet song - Sinister Scherzo

Making me think of how JP sounded with Ripper, not a bad thing either.

Thanks for posting - hope you guys are into it! Here's a few notes on the tune:

“Sinister Scherzo” – from the upcoming Tourniquet album “Gazing at Medusa”

Words and music by Ted Kirkpatrick

Tim Ripper Owens - lead vocals
Chris Poland – lead guitar
Aaron Guerra – guitar, vocals
Ted Kirkpatrick – drums, bass

Mixed and mastered by Aaron Pace
Produced by Ted Kirkpatrick
Video by Lukas Beles - https://www.facebook.com/FlockofCrows/

1:07 – 1:18 – lead: Guerra
3:03 – 4:25 – lead: Poland
4:27 – 4:45 – lead: Guerra
4:46 – 5:07 – lead: Poland

SINISTER SCHERZO

The world dances tuned to a dark macabre beat
Pulsating rhythm of war in the streets
Discordant melody – heart full of apathy
Discordant melody – but meant for unity

Sinister scherzo – the pull of evil is strong
Sinister scherzo – led by its hellbound song

Waking to find that today is the same
Do a quick line for your demons to tame
Losing yourself – motivation is gone
The map of your life - has already been drawn
Discordant melody – hearts full of apathy
Discordant melody - but meant for unity

Sinister scherzo – the pull of evil is strong
Sinister scherzo – led by its hellbound song

Let Him change your song
Change your song
Change your song

Sinister scherzo – the pull of evil is strong
Sinister scherzo – let Him change your song

Psalm 40:3 - "And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord."


Preorder CD and vinyl here: https://tourniquet.net/product-category/audio/
Order Medusa T shirt: https://tourniquet.net/product/gazing-medusa-t-shirt/

Download in HQ: https://tourniquet.bandcamp.com/track/sinister-scherzo

Will check this out soon!

Ok, here's my look on the song now that I've heard it something like 7 times.

I dig the opening of the song and holy WOW it sounds great when the drums get FAST, but too bad it set hopes a bit too high as I hoped it would get that fast again at some point but it never does.

The main riff is really good. Ted still knows how to write a good groove based rhythm.

The slow breakdown part is great too, but the rest of the slow part maybe goes on a bit too long.


There are also a couple of probably mixing based things that I'd perhaps like to be different:

1) Sometimes there are some really cool drumming things going on but those extra things don't feel loud enough. I felt the same thing with the title track too where, when listened closely, you could hear all kinds of cool little things done with drums. It doesn't sound bad at all, but I would kinda love things like the ride cymbal be louder for example in the first chorus. I've ALWAYS loved it when Ted (or any other drummer) does that cool rhythm thing with the ride cymbal. Now I can just barely hear it, but hear it just well enough to know it's there.

2) That said, I might be in the minority here but somehow I feel the main vocal layer of Ripper should be in the background and let the cool high-pitched vocals and other layers be more in the front. The high-pitched voice sounds SO good in the verses that I just hope it would be right there in front of everything, and the vocal harmony in the line "but meant for unity" sounds really good but there again I would love to hear the higher harmony be the one that's in the front.

Oh well, perhaps I just lack the tact and sensibility needed for this kind of things as I would love things to be just as wild as possible. After all I'm one of those weirdos who is heavily into Ready Or Not and I have never been ashamed to say that
(Ted, please, if Ripper ever re-records a classic Tourniquet song or joins you live, please have him sing Ready Or Not - his voice is made to sing that song at least once )

It's a good song overall. It has exactly the type of groove in the main riff that I love. I love that type of simple two or three note grooves. Ted has always been great writing those, like for example in Going Going Gone that has some of my favorite grooves ever. The groove here, while very much different from Going Going Gone, has the same type of nice groove to it. And the chord progressions again are exactly right in my alley. Ted seems to never disappoint me with the chord progressions.

Can't wait for the full album to be released!

I actually liked Gazing At Medusa better, and I think Ripper is one of the most talented vocalists alive.

The vocals here sound like they were an afterthought. Also, there's something to be said about cohesiveness -- a band, in the truest sense of the word, playing off each other. Sadly, given the circumstances, the lack of that bond comes through the final product. Any fan worth their salt would agree that a stable line-up beats a constantly changing one.

I will wait for the rest of the album with fingers crossed. TQT pre-Vanishing is one of my favorite bands.

I'm thinking the mix of vocals is very reminiscent of early TQT and can we stop for a moment to recognize how great Poland is?

It's the new world of music and bands change members a lot. Iced Earth changes yet manages to put out quality stuff pretty consistently. I'd like a solid line up but it ain't going to happen with these guys.

It's better than most of the songs on the Live Intense Series album.

Very cool! Nice unique Tourniquet sound!

I've been a fan of the band since the beginning, so I'm still trying to digest and reconcile this. In the spirit of trying to be objective, positive, and to not beat a dead horse (25+ years of vocalists debates), I will say that it is a good song and I like it. I love Aaron's vocals and solos. The guitar sound and death/grind-like duet in the opening riff remind me of Carcass and "Trivializing...", more so than any song since then. The flute riff puts an end to that riff and leads to another, reminding me of the crazy flute solo on Microscopic. I love the slower breakdown that leads to Chris Poland's first solo, which fits well and sounds like a cross between Bruce Franklin's and Marty Friendman's solo styles on previous songs. Ripper's higher vocals in the background of the chorus remind me of one of the Ted solo album songs with Nick Villars and Matty Montgomery which I enjoyed as well. The video is pretty cool, and the creepy girl with the long black hair near the end reminds me of The Sacred Rianna from America's Got Talent (look her up). It is basically what I expected in the sense that I have loved Tourniquet since the beginning, and I have really liked Ripper's vocals in Judas Priest and Iced Earth. All that being said, I have to be brutally honest and say that I can't help but think it would be more "Tourniquet" and overall better with Luke's vocals. The fact that it is a hired gun vocalist just leaves me feeling weird and unexcited. I haven't seen Ripper say anything publicly about this song or even acknowledge that he did vocals for the album, so the excitement and expectation of a cohesive, consistent band and future albums is lost. But I digress and will move on. It is a good song for what it is. The good news is that now we have new music from Luke, new music from Gary with some Guy and Luke mixed in here and there, and now some new music from Ted and Aaron with special guests. I'll keep trying to put my personal biases and opinions aside and listen with an open mind like I did when the band turned a complete 180 over 25 years ago. Life goes on.

Hmm...the song is ok. I'm giving it another listen now and I'm liking it a bit more than the first listen. I like the vocals and I like the main riff. But..... the song kind of sounds a lot like everything else the band has recorded over the last 3-4 albums. Same ol' guitar sound. Kind of wish the band would evolve their sound a bit. Maybe I'm in the minority here.

Some straight up speed/thrash metal would be nice. Seem to have all the pieces in place to pull it off.

If I were a fanboy, I would give it a  . Oh, wait... I am a fanboy... 

I waited until I listened to this tune 5 times before posting my opinion, just to be sure that it didn't change too much after the first listen.

Is it the greatest Tourniquet song ever? No. But it's a good tune. I long ago came to grips with the fact that there will never be another STB or Pathogenic album from any version of Tourniquet, just like Metallica will never make another Master of Puppets, even if the good Lord raised Cliff Burton from the dead. But that's OK. Bands evolve and can still make great music without repeating their previous work over and over and over (I'm looking at you, AC/DC).

I love Aaron's rhythm playing, and I don't understand the previous comment about this being the same guitar sound as the last 3-4 albums. MVTR, WMARD, AB, GaM have very different rhythm guitar tones from album to album (Yes, Aaron's tone on his solos tends to remain similar over the years).

Ripper's vocals work for me, though it would be nice to hear him let loose more. Maybe that will happen a few times on other tunes.

I've always loved the quirky, sometimes disjointed, way that Ted splices together different pieces in his songs, so I loved that aspect, though the slower middle part dragged on too long.

After hearing the first two songs, I know that this won't be my favorite Tourniquet album ever. But then again, I never expected it to be.

I also know that this will be far from my least favorite album from Ted & co. Really looking forward to hearing the whole thing SOON!!!

Let's appreciate the high-pitch screaming for a moment.

This Rob Halford / King Diamond type of a thing was what Guy Ritter did a lot in the first Tourniquet album. They toned it down a lot because as Ted said way back in the day people were quite put-off by those vocals (I recall him saying that maybe 8% of the fans liked those vocals). They didn't get rid of it completely as both Psycho Surgery and Pathogenic albums still have those screams here and there in the background although very low in volume.

That seems to be the way Ted has approached this record too and while I would LOVE to hear Ripper go crazy with those high-pitch vocals and have them be in the foreground of the vocal layers I appreciate it very much that they are used as much as they are here, and in fact they are way more clearly heard than in Psycho and Pathogenic!

Now, that said, looking at the vocals more critically and comparing them to what Guy Ritter did I think the main vocals go in a range that isn't the best for Ripper Owens. Ripper can make wonders when he sings louder and higher and obviously with the falsetto vocals, but the height of his vocals mostly stay pretty low in this song. When they toned Guy Ritter down he still had the special "x factor" in his voice that made him sound great and really interesting and unique no matter how high or low he sang. That's the quality I think Ripper lacks. His voice that low is still very good, don't get me wrong, but there's no special unique quality to his voice in that range. And especially after having the tease of Deen Castronovo singing in one song and him having his vocals sound really amazing no matter how low or high he sings Ripper Owen's lower vocals aren't sounding as good as that. So in that sense I kinda feel Ted could've thought the song through a couple more times and have Ripper be in more in that vocal range that sounds the best for him.

Oh well, that's me fanboying this song to death and analyzing it to the tiniest of details.

In any case now as I've listened to this song like 10-20 times I've really grown to appreciate that the high-pitch falsetto screams are really and truly actually back! That hasn't really happened since Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance and even in that record I bet most listeners have never even noticed the falsetto vocals being there. So to have those vocals be this audible in this song makes me soooo happy! And I'm really hoping for at least one or two songs where Ted has let Ripper be as crazy as possible and has chosen to have those vocals be even higher in the mix.

Oh man, imagine this album having songs with THREE vocalists: Aaron doing the yelling (he is really good at that, I'm glad he's still doing them), Deen Castronovo singing the "normal" vocals and Ripper Owens singing the falsetto stuff...

Anyway I've listened to this song imagining Guy Ritter be there singing those falsetto parts and I kinda get a good feel of what the band would be if Guy was still part of it... I think Ripper Owens is the best possible choice to ever get us get a peek to that kind of an alternate universe.

Can't wait for the full album to be released...

Ultimately I'll reserve my feelings till I hear the album. My mind just isn't wrapping around the two songs together.

After a few listens I think Ripper sounds bored on the verses. There is no power or emotion there, which thankfully Aaron's shouts help to rectify. He sounds great on the chorus. Musically the song sounds great!

Hey guys – Just stopping by to chime in on a couple things. Re: Ripper Owens not saying anything about being on the album. Not true at all. He has retweeted album news multiple times on Twitter. Also, if you look on our Tourniquet Facebook page, you will see many “likes” from him as people post their comments. He has also posted the video link on his personal and artist FB page. He was great to work with, and came up with all those harmonies and all the rest on the album – just by listening to my guide vocals, with the occasional two part harmony I throw in now and then, which he turns into six or seven vocal tracks over 3 octaves. He’s a very special singer for sure.
 
As for Chris Poland, I’ve had the pleasure to interact with him multiple times, and always a blast. His playing is nothing short of brilliant, and he is really pleased, as we are, with being given free range on the whole album to play leads. I wanted to do this to have the album appear as consistent sounding as possible, with a unified sound and only 4 people on the album, with the exception of Deen’s awesome  vocals on the title track. Chris is very busy and not really active on social media. If he was, I think you might see just how much he enjoyed being such an integral part of this album.

Ah, I see his retweets now. I stand corrected.

It's growing on me. It is a really good song. The intro reminds me of old In Flames (Swedish Melodic Death Metal band). The vocals are really good, especially with Aaron's shouting vocals thrown in, just wish there was a little more of that. The slow breakdown that leads to Chris Poland's solo is pretty awesome. Ripper's screams at the end are pretty haunting.

I like it.  I somehow agree with all the pros and cons and on-the-fences already voiced.  But I like it.  Which I haven't really been able to say about a Tourniquet song in many years.  Looking forward to the album.

This seems like a "best of" album wrapped up in one song.  It's like a summary of the whole output of the band since the early days.

best sounding Tourniquet since Microscopic view of a telescopic realm. Really looking forward to this one!

I'm loving this new album

This song is great and Ripper's voice is that awesome, but I still prefer Gazing at Medusa.