STOP THE BLEEDING (1990, 2001) PATHOGENIC

Now here is a killer album! I bought it on cassette as a new release, and I played it to pieces! Guy Ritter has such a unique voice, he shrieks, yells, screams and sings in this high pitched vibrato. Combined with the songwriting talent of Ted Kirkpatrick, you get a perfect combination. At first I thought they sounded a bit like King Diamond. But they really do have a style of their own. Try to imagine a mix of thrash and speed metal, intercept with technical playing, yet at the same time delivered in a melodic fashion. After many years of searching for a CD version to replace the crappy tape, I finally bought the reissue. It contains slightly different cover art, and 6 bonus tracks. My CD is also signed by Ted Kirkpatrick.

Killer tracks: The Test For Leprosy, Ready Or Not, You Get What You Pay For, Swarming Spirits, Somnabulism

PSYCHOSURGERY (1991, 2001) PATHOGENIC

Psychosurgery A Dog's Breakfast Viento Borrascoso (Devastating Wind) - instrumental Vitals Fading Spineless Dysfunctional Domicile Broken Chromosomes Stereotaxic Atrocities Officium Defunctorum A Dog's Breakfast - Live 2000 Broken Chromosomes - Live 2000 Stereotaxic Atrocities - Demo 1991 A Dog's Breakfast - Demo 1991 Concert Intro 2000

Line-up: Ted Kirkpatrick - Drums Guy Ritter - Vocals, Keyboards Gary Lenaire - Guitar, Vocals Erik Mendez - Guitar Victor Macias - Bass

I never got to hear this album as a new release. In fact I didn't hear it until the band reissued it. Then I bought it, and was so eager to give it a listen. I'm not sure why, but I can't really get into this album. I really thought that it would be a fine follow up to their debut. The only track I find to do so is "Broken Chromosomes", easily the best track on 'Psychosurgery'. I always thought that Guy Ritter's departure was what changed the band, but that was wrong. The musicianship is stellar here of course. So I'm not sure what my problem is. I do know that I've had the same problem with most Tourniquet releases since the first one. As stated, I have the 2001 reissue, with 5 bonus tracks. The original version was called 'Psycho Surgery', but Ted wanted it to be one word, so he changed it.

Killer tracks: A Dog's Breakfast, Broken Chromosomes, Stereotaxic Atrocities

PATHOGENIC OCULAR DISSONANCE (1992, 2001) PATHOGENIC

impending embolism - intro pathogenic ocular dissonance phantom limb ruminating virulence spectrophobic dementia gelatinous tubercles of purulent ossification Incommensurate Exoskeletons Theodicy On Trial Descent Into The Maelstrom - instrumental En Hakkore The Skeezik Dilemma Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance - live 2000 Bearing Gruesome Cargo / Drum solo - live 2000

Line-up: Ted Kirkpatrick - Drums Guy Ritter - Vocals Gary Lenaire - Guitar, Vocals Erik Mendez - Guitar, Vocals Victor Macias - Bass, Vocals

This is the last album with Guy Ritter on vocals. In fact, he doesn't even sing on all the tracks, as he left the band half way through the recoding of the album. So Gary Lenaire takes over the vocals duties on the rest of the songs. 'Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance' continues down the same path as 'Psychosurgery'. It's stellar technical heavy metal, with lots of thrash/speed metal overtones. This is a perfect example of why they have been labeled "thinking man's metal". They do sound a tad heavier here though. And check out the lyric-titles!! Man, Ted took the long bizarre titles with medical terminology to the maximum here. All in all, this is one of Tourniquet's finest moments, and my second favorite album by them. The title track alone is worth the price! This reissue contains 2 bonus tracks, and the album title is misspelled on the spine of the trey card. Not sure why they added a live version of "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" though, as it was originally released on their 'Vanishing Lessons' album. I used to own the Metal Blade version, and could flog myself for getting rid of it, as I later on discovered that the reissue doesn't include the cover of Trouble's "The Tempter".

Killer tracks: Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, Phantom Limb, ruminating virulence, gelatinous tubercles of purulent ossification, The Skeezik Dilemma

INTENSE LIVE SERIES VOL.2 (1993) INTENSE

Torniquet's addition to the 'Intense Live Series' is also a good one. Since Guy Ritter left the band, Gary is now the singer. But they have also brought in Bloodgood's Les Carlson to fill in on some of Guy's vocal parts. And that is very fittingly too, as they even do a cover of Bloodgood's "The Messiah". "The Tempter" is another cover song, this time of Trouble. (Hmm, seems like I don't need the Metal Blade version of 'Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance' after all.)

VANISHING LESSONS (1994) INTENSE

This was the first Tourniquet album I bought on CD. At first it disappointed me a lot. I couldn't even tell that they had changed their singer, only that the music didn't sound too much akin to 'Stop The Bleeding'. The speed metal was gone, and what was left didn't appeal to me. But back then I didn't have the vast collection I own now, so all my albums got countless spins, even the ones I didn't like that much. so after a while, I really got into this album as well. New vocalist Luke Easter does a fine job. But he lacks the unique style Guy gave the band. Tracks like "Vanishing Lessons" and the beautiful "My Promise" are standouts. "Twilight" even got the band a hit in the CCM scene. I wonder why so many Christian metal bands began to change styles around this time?

Killer tracks: Bearing Gruesome Cargo, Vanishing Lessons, My Promise, Sola Christus

CARRY THE WOUNDED (1995) INTENSE (EP)

A nice addition to the Tourniquet collection. This little EP contains all exclusive material. "Oh Well" is a Fleetwood Mac cover. "My Promise" is an acoustic version, complete a violin arrangement, of a track from 'Vanishing Lessons' (my favorite track on this EP). Apparently the die-hard Tourniquet fans didn't like the release of this EP, as they found the material on it to be way too commercial sounding, and mellow. Well, I think that a release like this should give you something extra. It's not supposed to be the next album, it's a bonus, if you know what I mean.

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF TOURNIQUET (1996) INTENSE

Perfect Night For a Hanging Vanishing Lessons Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance Twilight Psycho Surgery You Get What You Pray For Acidhead Broken Chromosomes Viento Borrascoso - instrumental Carry The Wounded Bearing Gruesome Cargo The Skeezik Dilemma Ark Of Suffering The Hand Trembler

A best of effort, with 2 new tracks. 4 tracks from the last studio album (a bit too much?), and at least one or 2 tracks from each other releases by Tourniquet. You can always pick on the track list on such an album. But I'll just concentrate on stating that the 2 new tracks, entitled "Perfect Night For a Hanging" and "The Hand Trembler" are EXCELLENT! This is the way I love to hear Tourniquet, and I wish they had returned to that technical thrash/speed metal sound. Unfortunately they didn't.

CRAWL TO CHINA (1997) BENSON

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! What the heck is this?? The 2 new track on the compilation albums shows a band returning to the speed and thrash of their earlier albums. But when a new studio-album is released they have nearly abandoned metal as a whole! What were they thinking? This is pseudo-modern rock, blended in with some metal here and there. The band claimed that Gary Lenaire left them because he no longer wanted to play metal. Well, he joined Guy Ritter in forming Echo Hollow, and their debut album is way more metal than this stinker, so go figure. I find little to no redeeming qualities on this disc. "If I Was There" is a beautiful ballad, with excellent lyrics to boot.

Killer tracks: Crawl To China, If I Was There

ACOUSTIC ARCHIVES (1998) INDEPENDENT

I guess 'Crawl To China' saw the band loosing all contact with any label, so they released this one on their own (they also reissued their first 3 albums themselves). As the title tells us, this is an acoustic album. Well, at least the first 9 tracks are. Song 10 is a new one, recorded to show the fans the direction the band is supposed to be heading (now where did I hear his before?!). I'm not sure what to say about the acoustic tracks. Some of them work, but most of them don't. And with the most horrid cover in the history of Tourniquet, this is a collector's item, and nothing more. I've also read that this was a hand numbered, autographed release. But mine is neither. Instead it contains a Tourniquet sticker. I guess they reissued it.

MICROSCOPIC VIEW OF A TELESCOPIC REALM (2000) METAL BLADE

Besprinkled In Scarlet Horror Drinking From The Poisoned Well Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm The Tomb Of Gilgamesh Servant Of The Bones Erratic Palpitations Of The Human Spirit Martyr's Pose Immunity Vector Indulgence By Proxy Caixa De Raiva The Skeezik Dilemma Part II (The Improbable Testimony of the Pipsisewah)

Line-up: Ted Kirkpatrick - Drums, Bass Luke Easter - Vocals Aaron Guerra - Guitar, Vocals, Bass Guests: Steve Rowe - Guest vocals on 3 Cameron Stone - Cello on 4, 11 Jennifer Hall - Flute on 1, 8

Finally Tourniquet return to what they do best: technical heavy metal, with lots of thrash and speed influences! The riff in "Besprinkled In Scarlet Horror" is one of the best riffs ever!! And the rest of the album follows in the same manner. It's a very technical album, with lots of classical inspired elements. There are moments I'm not in the right mood for this album, and on those occasions it can sound a bit dull. But most of the time, I really enjoy it, and crank it as loud as possible. Track number 5 is borrowing a riff  from Slayer, but I forget from which song. The complex titles are back too, but for some reason I can now understand most of them. I think I'm getting old! (hehe) Anyway, this album is AWESOME, and one of my favorite Tourniquet albums.

Killer tracks: Besprinkled In Scarlet Horror, Drinking From The Poisoned Well, Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm

WHERE MOTH AND RUST DESTROY (2003) METAL BLADE

In my ears 'Where Moth And Rust Destroy' takes off where 'Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm' left off. But it also incorporates much more than any of it's predecessors. It is easily the most diverse album Tourniquet have ever released. They are perhaps not as technical as on previous albums. Even the song titles are simplified. But as said, they incorporate more styles than ever. Just listen to the doom metal finish in "In Death We Rise"! I guess that felt pretty natural, considering that one of the lead guitarists on this album in none other than Bruce Franklin, of Trouble (an old friend of Ted. Ted actually were a member of Trouble for a very short time). The other notable guest here is of course Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth, Cacophony). So between those guys, you know that the guitar parts are very well taken care off. I'm not so sure that the overall feel of this album gives me as much listening pleasure as the last one did. But it does include some of the best songs Tourniquet have written.

Killer tracks: Where Moth And Rust Destroy, Restoring The Locust Years, Healing Waters Of The Tigris

TILL SVERIGE MED KÄRKLEK (2006) PATHOGENIC (DVD)

Although Tourniquet haven't released a new album since 2003's 'Where Moth And Rust Destroy', they are still active, and every now and then they play concerts. This DVD is from when the band headlined the last ever Bobfest in Sweden. Bobfest, named after the Christian metal "father figure", Bob Beeman, was a high profile Christian metal festival, held annually 'til 2005. So it was quite appropriate that one of the biggest names in Christian metal were there for the grand finale. The concert is of course filmed by multiple cameras, most of them pretty up close. The band roars through a career spanning set. Since this was my first visual meeting with this band in live form, I didn't know what to expect. And while I enjoy the concert, I can't help but to feel that this was just another gig for the guys. They lack enthusiasm! Luke does a solid enough job singing the older tunes, but he can't duplicate the falsetto screams on "The Test For Leprosy" for example. Aaron delivers some great guitar-work though, and he might be the highlight of this live performance. The bands image looks so un-metal, with all the bald heads and plain street clothes. Stupid, I know, but I can't help to feel so anyway. The bonus material is cool. The 3 different version of "If I Was There" is interesting, especially the acoustic version, and the one where members of the Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin performs the song for their Easter service. This beautiful ballad gets a new life sung by a tenor, and an orchestra. The rehearsal footage of the band playing acoustic on a porch (Ted doing all the drumming on 1 drum!) is also priceless! 'Til Sverige Med Kärlek' is a DVD every fan of this band will enjoy. I might also add that the title translates to the James Bond-ish, 'To Sweden With Love'.

Tourniquet also appear on:  

V/A - 'Hot Metal V - Screaming Truth'

V/A - 'An Intense History Of Christian Metal'

Victor Macias guest appearances:

Deliverance - 'What A Joke?'

Vengeance Rising - 'Released Upon The Earth'

Vince Dennis guest appearances:

Agent Steel - 'Omega Conspiracy'

Related artists:

Echo Hollow, Steel Prophet