  
Frontiers/BAM
Album number seven from a band that supposedly had their heyday in the 80´s, doesn´t that sound interesting? It should be since after they ended their 1996-2000 hiatus they have almost always bettered themselves with every album. The band consists of nearly all originals; Jeff Keith, vocals, Brian Wheat, bass/piano, Troy Luccetta, drums & percussions, and guitarist Frank Hannon. The latter has since 2006 been duelling with “new boy” Dave Rude since original guitarist Tommy Skeoch left the band.
Almost improved with every album means a lot for this lot, who has million sellers like “Mechanical Resonance” and “The Great Radio Controversy” to better. The sound is grittier then they ever were in the past, with smooth hits like “Modern Day Cowboy” and “Edison´s Medicine” under their belt. Here they have more tracks than average on offer, which might have been a bit of a mistake compared with “Forever More” (2008).
Their humour is second to none in opener “MP3” complete with the sound of a needle being lowered down to an LP. “Ricochet” is their brand of cosy blues rock at its best. A line like “Me and the boys gotta Rock´n´Roll band” has that true grit I´ve come to expect. The brooding “Rise and Fall” has a great arrangement and builds up steam in fine fashion. The same goes for “So Divine” that almost reaches the same highs as the opening trio. “Flip Side!” is another gem with that exceptionally true feeling that TESLA has cultivated since their return in 2006, and is joined by “Break of Dawn” in that department. On the softer side we have “Burn Out to Fade”, both as a demo and the final studio product. There is a lot of character to this band. The mistakes I was talking about? Yeah well, “Life Is a River” lacks that build-up to a crescendo that TESLA normally master and the smokey character is not quite achieved in “Cross My Heart” and “Sympathy”. It might only be minor hiccups but still the competition from their previous outing “Forever More” is murderous. But still, with 12 songs instead of 15 this would have been another 5/5 album!
Track List
MP3
Ricochet
Rise and Fall
So Divine...
Cross My Heart
Honestly
Flip Side!
Other than Me
Break of Dawn
Burnout to Fade
Life Is a River
Symphaty
Time Bomb
´Til That Day
Burnout to Fade (Demo)
www.frontiers.it www.teslatheband.com
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