Review Tuck From Hell - Thrashing 2010

Swedish band Tuck From Hell are releasing their awaited debut album, at least if we shall believe the label, which we of course should, not. This album is called Thrashing and has an ugly guy on the cover, a cover which bodes ill for me as I seem to recall that albums with covers looking like that usually are rubbish. But then again we shall hear for it first, I can be wrong, I can imagine such a thing could happen some time. Did I mention that the band has a silly name and that they are all born in 1988 if I have the correct information, that may mean some enthusiasm of youth to find in the music, well if you read on you will learn how I see it.

Covers and names are one thing, it is still about the music and as the title suggests it is a heavy metal album with quite a bit of thrash influences that seem to be traceable back to the early eighties. That earlier sentence of course mean that it is quite heavy, quite fast and a bit aggressive with rather masculine vocals which are rather common in the thrash genre. I say heavy metal because the record is so heavily produced that some of the heavy thrash stuff gets lots in this production. That is of course for better and for worse depending on which angle you choose to look from. Worth mentioning can also be that this record has a total of ten tracks which can be timed to less than forty minutes which of course is a good thing in almost every case, I still think the length of the vinyl record was just right, CDs are just too long, but that’s just me, this record is not so long which is a sign of a band that has done some selecting of songs at least.

The album starts with a song called Barbecue beast which is more of a funny track and makes me think of Mark Webber the australian F1-driver, maybe because the text line “throw another shrimp on the barbie” sound very australian for some reason. After that one comes Death Before Disco which is probably the best track on the album and then there is nothing that really catches my ear. Fortunately the record is not so long so the feeling when it ends is still a rather positive one with Death Before Disco still fresh in the mind.

But in the end the feeling is more of something I have just heard and forgotten than of something good and worth keeping in the mind or in the collection. Tuck for me feels a bit conservative and bit scared of being to personal a bit afraid of really doing their own thing. My general feeling towards this album is that the band tries to make a mainstream thrash album and are pleased with that.

It is more surface than substance, the feeling of individuality that can be found in the lyrics somewhere is nowhere to be seen in the music. The production is too polished, the songs sound just like everything else and the general feeling is more one of a record label product than of a band with their own ideas.

Well in the end though it is an okay record but it lacks most of what I want to hear and it feels too politically correct for my taste and the enthusiasm of youth are drowned in political correctness. Still that hidden enthusiasm that can be heard at times leaves a bit of light and hope for a more interesting release in the future.

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Tuck From Hell Thrashing

Tuck From Hell
Thrashing