Tourniquet - Gazing At Medusa drops Tuesday, October 16...

Ted announced today that the album will be out Tuesday, October 16!!!

I can't wait!

Did any other backers stop getting updates?  I didn't get the last several.  Yes, I checked my junk inbox too.

Kickstarter backers also just got the info that we're going to get download codes sometime earlier than that... I wonder if it'll come a day earlier or even in the weekend.

eatbugs, I hope you get that problem solved as the updates have come to me with no problem and you are probably going to get the download code with a Kickstarter update, I think... It could be the e-mail with the dowload code comes through Bandcamp so if that happens I think you won't have any problems then. Anyway, I'm sure that contacting Ted will help you if you end up not getting the code.

CAN'T WAIT!

By the way, this release date is for the digital download version only. I think manufacturing and releasing the physical cd takes a bit longer.

Cool, looking forward to this.

I've been listening to nothing but Tourniquet today in honor of the impending release of the new album. So many great tunes from Ted and company through the years... Looking forward to some new ones!

Airola wrote:eatbugs, I hope you get that problem solved as the updates have come to me with no problem and you are probably going to get the download code with a Kickstarter update, I think... It could be the e-mail with the dowload code comes through Bandcamp so if that happens I think you won't have any problems then. Anyway, I'm sure that contacting Ted will help you if you end up not getting the code.

Yeah, I don't "need" updates, even the download is just a bonus for me.  I just want to make sure I didn't get lost somehow and not get the CD when the time comes.

I am looking forward to it, though I am disappointed as I didn't see much advantage in being a backer,as we got the news along with the public and the donwload will come no more than 48 hours in advance.

It will be streaming as well. Ted is cool with streaming. It works out better for him since he owns everything.

Got my download code.

eatbugs wrote:

Airola wrote:eatbugs, I hope you get that problem solved as the updates have come to me with no problem and you are probably going to get the download code with a Kickstarter update, I think... It could be the e-mail with the dowload code comes through Bandcamp so if that happens I think you won't have any problems then. Anyway, I'm sure that contacting Ted will help you if you end up not getting the code.

Yeah, I don't "need" updates, even the download is just a bonus for me.  I just want to make sure I didn't get lost somehow and not get the CD when the time comes.

Follow-up: I got the download link too.  Listening now.  

Weird that I haven't got any of the recent updates.  Oh well.  So far so good on the music.

Whoohoo... just got my download!!!

Just about to download it!!

Tracklist:

1. Sinister Scherzo (5:50)
2. Longing for Gondwanaland (5:46)
3. Memento Mori (4:22)
4. All Good Things Died Here (4:52)
5. The Crushing Weight of Eternity (6:17)
6. The Peaceful Beauty of Brutal Justice (5:06)
7. Can't Make Me Hate You (4:02)
8. One Foot in Forever (4:59)
9. Gazing at Medusa (4:12)

Initial thoughts after two spins...

I liked the songs a lot more on the second listen than the first spin. I like most of what they did with the mix - drums are pretty loud, the bass drums are really cranked, the rhythm guitar tone is killer.

As for the songs, seven of the nine are good to very good, while two didn't really work for me (Memento and Can't Make Me). While there isn't a ton of speed in these tunes, it's there in places. Ripper's vocals cover a wide range of styles, and I like most of the ways that he handles these tunes. Aaron has a lot of vocal work on this album - maybe more than ever?

So far my favorite tune is "The Crushing Weight of Eternity."

Looking forward to hearing what others think.

So will this be on Amazon the 16th?

Ok, I've now listened it through once. Pretty mixed feelings about it.

(NOTE: this post has me first listening through it once and commenting after that and then giving additional listens from here and there, and commenting again, and finally listening the songs once or twice again and commenting on them for the third time finally going through each of the song separately)



First some good things:

-Ripper Owens does fantastic job. He gets to pull off his falsetto vocals here and there with them being up in front at times, which was something I really hoped for. This is the closest to Guy Ritter we've gotten since Pathogenic... (well, Jason Robison singing Broken Chromosomes in Exodo Fest at Mexico - or at least the short clip of it I heard on Youtube - is the closest one but what comes to falsettos and some other stuff, Ripper certainly brings back memories).

-The double bass assault in this album is really REALLY good and really REALLY fast and there's a lot of open/close hi-hat and snare drum technical drumming. Ted goes pretty wild with drumming especially in the end of All Good Things Died Here. He definitely still has the good old TQT drumming chops, that's for sure.

-The solo in the last third of Memento Mori, a doomy ballad, is one of the best guitar solos I have ever heard. EVER. It opens with being something maybe a bit too chaotic and nonsensical to me and frankly something that just goes in from the other ear and comes out from the other, but suddenly just as it sounds as if the solo is about to die it starts to sound like something, say, Gary Moore would perhaps play. There suddenly is a lot of emotion put in each note he plays (I assume Chris Poland is playing there). A lot of the solos in this album went on with me forgetting them very quickly but this one stuck out.



Then on to the bad things:

-In every single Tourniquet album there have been lots of moments that hooked me in instantly. I have always been eager to get back to many many moments after just one listen. This time I kinda just forgot most of the songs as soon as they ended. The title track is by far the catchiest song in the album.

-As we all know, Ted goes for the weird and odd pretty often. He does it here too, but this time maybe a bit too much. Sometimes they are kinda cool but sometimes it feels they go on for a bit too long or appear at wrong places or just are not interesting enough. Sometimes it feels as if a song might go on being great but then an odd composition appears and distracts more than takes me in an interesting journey. In earlier records these distractions have most often been really memorable things but here they aren't.

-Even with Chris Poland being the lead guitarist I forgot most of the solos pretty quickly. I'm not really a "solo guy" but I recognize a great solo melody or rhythm when it comes, but at least during the first listen I didn't get much of that. The solo in Memento Mori is an exception though and I loved that solo so much I'm ready to let the other solos be what they are if that's what it took to get that one on a record.




Additional notes:

-Not sure what to think about the title track being the last song on the album. First of all, it's always a bummer to have the last song to be something you have probably listened through the most (it was the first single after all). Secondly, it's probably the best choice as the lead vocalist is different than in the rest of the album. It would've been bad to have another vocalist suddenly be in the middle of the record or have him open the album but then have the rest be Ripper. So, yeah, I get it and the song is fantastic so in that sense it's good it's the last track. But thirdly, while Ripper did amazing job in the album, hearing Deen singing that great of a song with that great of a performance, it kinda leaves the thought of what this album might've been if Deen had done the vocals to the whole album... And that might not be in favor for Ripper even if I loved what he did...

-With Onward to Freedom many said how much there was "metalcore" influence in the album with vocals and certain type of breakdowns. Now with this album you can also say it has lots of metalcore influence, but very weirdly it's definitely not with the vocals and not that much breakdownwise either, but oddly there are many places where the riffs sound pretty much exactly like the non-growling non-breakdown melodic parts of metalcore songs. You know, the parts where the metalcore bands have taken influence from old school melodic metal but play it in a certain way. I felt there were quite a bit of stuff like that going on.




NOW GOING THROUGH A SECOND LISTEN
Here's what I can say about it now:

-Yeah, the drumming is certainly great in the album. I kinda sense a different kind of fury here, especially with the double bass drumming.

-Now I'm starting to hear more good things. Some of the songs I had initially forgotten now has some really good parts. I kinda now notice the exact parts of the songs that caused me first to forget them. Sometimes a riff goes for the "prog" thing with being weirdly timed and sometimes the odd thing in the middle of the song is just an odd thing that does nothing to keep the interest going on.

-Ok, I'm starting to hear great things in solos too. Some solos in fact have the same kind of nuance I heard in the solo in Memento Mori (which is still AMAZING). Like, the solo in the middle of The Crushing Weight of Eternity is reeeaaallly good.



Oh man, I thought I wouldn't do this, but let's go, I will comment on each song separately:

01. SINISTER SCHERZO
The second single track and the first track we heard Ripper Owens vocals in. It's the opening track of the album. I like the song. The opening is good even though the "semi blast beat" maybe gives a bit of too much hope for brutality in the album. That really fast thrash/death part is the fastest part in the whole album. Nothing like that happens ever again. That said, the song is good, but the middle slow breakdown part goes on a bit too long - which kinda foreshadows a bit of some of the problems the album has later on. Anyway, the song is good. The opening of the song is great with the brutal fast part and the groovy riff is great. Ripper is good in this song but he will definitely do better in some of the later tracks.

02. LONGING FOR GONDWANALAND
Has a promising opening with heavy guitars and heavy bass drums. Then the song losts me a bit musically, but comes back with the melodic "metalcore imitating old school metal" type of riffing and Ripper doing his "Halford" vocals. Here's when I first thought "oh, thank gosh, they let Ripper do that and left that in up front."
The song is mid-paced and gets slower in the middle, which initially sounded too long and kinda lost me, but it sounds better now. The solos in this song do nothing for me. Here's when I still thought the solos aren't going to be that great even with Chris Poland playing most of them. This song still kinda loses me at some point.

03. MEMENTO MORI
Slow doomy ballad.
I wonder if this was first supposed to be the last song of the album. Sounds like it could be. And maybe SHOULD be.
Oh wow, I love this song... In the first listen I liked this song a lot (even though it almost drags a bit in the middle) but now I really really love it. And I love the solo in the end the more I listen to it. Oh man, this is a beautiful BEAUTIFUL song... Kinda puts me in tears a bit. Here's where the addition of Ripper Owens and Chris Poland really shines.

04. ALL GOOD THINGS DIED HERE
Fast opening with thrash drumming. The riff is one of those Ted's more "classical influenced" ones that go on for 20 seconds before ending and starting again. After the opening the song gets slower and starts to sound something that reminds me of some of the slower parts in the Microscopic View album, but I think these riffs are not as good and go on a bit too long. The song loses me a bit until it gets fast again. The end of the song has some CRAZY drumming by Ted. After being lost the end gave me a smile by showing Ted really still has the chops.

05. THE CRUSHING WEIGHT OF ETERNITY
Slow and dark opening. Slow riffing with fast double bass drums. Melodic old school metal riff (again reminds me of the old school metal parts of some metalcore songs) starts and soon changes into faster and groovier, but at the same time weirdly darker, riff with faster drumming. I'm kinda growing to love this high-to-low notes going simple riff the more I listen to it. The song gets slower and the middle of the song has another REALLY good guitar solo. The song gets faster closer to the end. Lots of fast double bass drums with fast paced thrashy drums near the end. Oh, the solo at the end of the song starts to sound really good too, I had completely forgotten that one too after the first listen.

06. THE PEACEFUL BEAUTY OF BRUTAL JUSTICE
Starts off as a ballad. Maybe another Memento Mori moment? The opening is lyrically also really bleak.
Then the song changes style and a REALLY good and heavy mid paced groove riff with double bass drums appears. I love Aaron's vocals here!
The song picks up pace a bit and has another riff, which isn't as good as the first one.
Then a weird part with a "flute" of some sort happens which during the first listen distracted me too much. Still not sure what I think of it. The rest of the song kinda starts to lose me a bit even though the cool riff comes back for a moment.
Along with Memento Mori (and later One Foot In Forever) this track was the only one that during the first listen sounded at least somewhat immediately memorable (not counting the title track as that is still as awesome as ever).

07. CAN'T MAKE ME HATE YOU
Slow opening. Has another solo that is now kinda starting to sound good to me. Then the music gets odd for a moment and I'm completely distracted. Then the song gets more "normal" again. It's a slow but heavy song. I think this song was the one I forgot "the most" during the first listen. Now I think it sounds much better. The lead guitars are really good and the song kinda sounds pretty. Aaron's and Ripper's vocals sound really good here too. I had to listen to it twice while writing this short piece for it, and man this song might have the best vocals by Ripper in the album, especially the closer to the end the song gets. He really seems to shine in these slower ballad-y tracks.
Wow, now the song that felt the worst and completely unmemorable at first seems to be one of my favorites now :O

08. ONE FOOT IN FOREVER
Opens with some groovy and heavy guitars and gets some really cool double bass action thrown in. Gets less interesting for a moment but then gets very melodic with really good lead guitar. It gets weird at some point but the song overall has good melodies and chord progressions go just the way I like them.

09. GAZING AT MEDUSA
A mixture of thrash and 80's heavy metal. Everyone knows the song already so maybe there's nothing to say about it anymore. Deen Castronovo sings the lead vocals and sounds amazing. After the first listen I thought this probably is the best song of the album. It certainly still is the most memorable and catchy song, but I'm not sure anymore of it being the best.


The album definitely starts to open up after repeated listens. But I really have to say that I have never before finished the first listen of a Tourniquet album and not remembering this much stuff in it. Literally way over half of all of the music got lost on me. I'm glad to see that the songs really seem to grow on me after repeated listens.


TOP TIER TRACKS:
Gazing at Medusa
Memento Mori
The Peaceful Beauty of Brutal Justice
One Foot in Forever

MIDDLE TIER:
The Crushing Weight of Eternity (thinking of raising this to top tier now)
Sinister Scherzo
Can't Make Me Hate You (initially low tier, now middle tier and thinking of raising this to top tier)

LOW TIER:
All Good Things Died Here
Longing for Gondwanaland



tl;dr
Initially mostly unmemorable and lacking hooks - now loving it after repeated listens.

My review (translated by google)


The only thing that is expected of a Tourniquet album is precisely not having the slightest notion of how a band will sound. Yes, it is paradoxical, but it is a true truth for those who accuse the group of different things, less than accommodating and inert with their history.




The quality of the instrumental has always been a constant, so it was almost certain that it would be a good thing for Ted Kirkpatrick and Aaron Guerra. We have drums with the signature of customary quality and this time with a greater emphasis on the attack of the double bass, Ted thrashes like no one and seems not to feel the years pass. I think since "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" we have not heard something so brutal about this. Aaron even though he does not have the due recognition as a musician, he is a full-fledged guitarist and here he plays riffs and very complicated passages as if he played any 3-chord music! His vocal contribution is also greater and I guarantee that you accompanying the band at a certain time will think, like me, that he should have shouted more on the old records.





Yes, the vocals. That was the great curiosity and concern with the album, since since 2015 the band had no longer with Luke Easter in front of the microphone. Well, who was scared to be a weak spot in the material, you can rest assured that the task was brilliantly completed by 2 monsters: Tim Ripper Owens "Official Page" and Deen Castronovo, the latter, making a special participation singing the title track of disc


Do we really need to talk about these legends? Yes we need. Their curriculum speaks for themselves because we have here people who sing / already sang for Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Journey, The Dead Daisies, Revolution Saints among others, but it was a superb job of both. The performance and imposition of Tim Ripper Owens's presence is spectacular and gave Tourniquet one of the best vocal records of its history. Deen also does not for less and even that only singing in a track, helped to create what would risk to call new classic of the band. A good song, easy to sing along and potential to be explored in future live performances


"Gazing At Medusa" is not the kind of album that catches the listener at a first audition, but with each 45-minute cycle (the length of the record) you catch yourself paying more attention to details that have been beaten from the previous time. Of course there are tracks that in the first few seconds your brain already reports that "damn, that's good huh?" And beyond the title track this also happens with "Sinister Scherzo" and "Longing For Gondwanaland" (which refrain my friends, who chorus) , but we also have "Memento Mori" and its doom backbone and the false ballad "The Peaceful Beauty Of Brutal Justice that move from the status of" any track "to something like" really very interesting. " The songs that were not mentioned go this way and make the album have characteristics of the band's recent and remote past, since this is the usual Tourniquet (strange passages, broken times, classical music riffs and a beautiful solo guitar work , where Aaron shared the role with the legendary Chris Poland, former Megadeth, who did the superb service) revisited and updated to 2018, no more and no less than that.




Who is a widow of the old formations may not be much interested, but it is not news because these guys do not like anything of the band post 1992 same. But if you like music for what it really is, for the shivers it causes in body and soul, "Gazing At Medusa" will satisfy all your yearnings.




I do not think I need to book a place in the top 10 of the year for this material, as the Tourniquet never disappoint and it was not this time they failed. Dial with all possible predicates!.


http://metalnalata.com.br/site/tourniquet-gazing-at-medusa-2018/

On my 3rd or 4th listen. Great riffs, drumming, solos, great vocals from Aaron. I can appreciate all of the hard work and talent that went into creating this. Personally I don't care for most of Ripper's vocals on this. It just doesn't seem to fit and sounds like a weird mashup of Tourniquet and Iced Earth at times.  Something huge is missing for me. This is the first Tourniquet studio album in 28 years where the vocals haven't given me chills and excitement.

I love the passion and anger in Aaron's vocals on "The Peaceful Beauty of Brutal Justice". Sounds like a very personal subject matter. Do we backers who got the download only not get the liner notes and lyrics? They were not in my download.

Wigeon wrote:

That's how we all feel whenever any favorite band changes singers (Guy to Luke included).  Yes, to me it's barely a Tourniquet album with a different singer.  The vocals and mix are actually really good, I agree with the review on how well done the falsetto vocals are.  Any other "negative" to Owens is that we don't know who the band members are.  Will he be the singer on any hypothetical future Tourniquet album?  Will we have this same discussion then too?  

Just remember the "worst" Tourniquet is still better than 99% of anything else out there.  Time will tell where it stands in the Tourniquet catalog.


P.S. Google translate is pretty goofy.

Wigeon wrote:I love the passion and anger in Aaron's vocals on "The Peaceful Beauty of Brutal Justice". Sounds like a very personal subject matter. Do we backers who got the download only not get the liner notes and lyrics? They were not in my download.

I didn't get liner notes or lyrics, either. Maybe a mistake that they weren't included? I'll get mine with the CD, though.
 
As far as I can tell, those who want overt Christian lyrics will be happy. I hear a lot of biblical references and explicit statements about Christian claims.
 
There are no "animal rights" songs, either (which don't bother me at all).

Listened through once tonight.  While working on spreadsheets for my business, so I wasn't totally concentrating on the music...but that's my barometer.  If music can distract me while I'm working, then it's good.

This album distracted me a lot.  I was aware I was listening to it the whole time.  Even though I had it on as background noise, I could tell there was a lot of meat to go back and listen to on future listens.  And nothing that annoyed me as too cheesy (as Luke's vocals sometimes did).  So, that's all good and better than 9 out of 10 other albums.

The tune that really stood out was "The Peaceful Beauty of Brutal Justice."  I love Aaron's vocals and the weird parts on it.  Great stuff.

Looking forward to future listens at full volume with full attention.

I've only listened to it 1.5 times so far but I think it blows away Onward to Freedom. I can't say it's on the level of Antiseptic so far. I agree about Peaceful Beauty being a stand out track.

Digital download is now available on KKBOX, iTunes and Amazon.
https://www.kkbox.com/sg/en/album/n4a1Q0LxDEJhm0F2SBHX009H-index.html
https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1438684250
https://www.amazon.com/Gazing-at-Medusa-Tourniquet/dp/B07JBLD1YB

I've been listening it through many many times and it gets better the more I listen to it.

Tourniquet albums usually have songs I classify in four categories: 1) classics, 2) songs I love, 3) songs I like and 4) songs I dislike.

So far only the title track feels like a classic to me, but most of the songs are ones I love. Only two songs go to the "songs I like" category (Longing for Gondwanaland and All Good Things Died Here) and none of them go to the "songs I dislike" category.

Initially Can't Make Me Hate You was somewhere in between of "songs I like" and "songs I dislike" categories, but it has grown to be one of my favorites on the album. And currently The Crushing Weight of Eternity is getting up into being one of my favorites (oh man the solo in the middle of the song... getting so much goosebumps there...). I think it's soon pretty hard to decide which one is my favorite as it seems the one I'm listening at the moment always takes one step above the others.

Ripper also sounds better and better the more I listen to it and sometimes puts out things that I'm not sure if Guy or Luke would've ever been able to pull off as well as Ripper. I have also really started to appreciate some of Poland's solos more. At worst his (or Aaron's) solos are just about ok, but at best they are phenomenal, not in heavy metal shred way but in this really nice bluesy feelings-based way.

Also Aaron does really good job with his vocals too. Some of it might even be his best vocal performance ever.

I'm really loving this album now. The first listen was a bit of a disappointment but boy has this one grown on me a lot!

Immeadiate faves are Crushing Weight of Eternity, I almost expected to hear Guy singing after the intro it's such a classic TqT begingging, and Sinister Scherzo.
Peaceful Beauty is a barn burner and one of those songs that grabs your attention. 
Ted still has it which I was wondering about after OtF.

Really cool to read all the comments. Today is the official release day, and the album just went live on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and likely many other stores. People ask what stores our albums are on - just FYI, here's a current list: iTunes, YouTube Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play, Pandora, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, MediaNet, TouchTunes, VerveLife, Tidal, Gracenote, Shazam, 7Digital, Juke, Slacker, KKBox, Akazoo, Anghami, Spinlet, Neurotic Media, Yandex, Target Music, ClaroMusica, Zvooq, Saavn, 8tracks, Q.Sic, Kuack, Boomplay Music, SimfyAfrica.

Also fans have been asking where they can get the lyrics - it's now live on Bandcamp, where you can see all the lyrics and album credits, plus download the full album if you like - here: https://tourniquet.bandcamp.com/album/gazing-at-medusa