TANTRIC - DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK!

Days of the New was one of the best bands of the 90s, an era with no shortage of decent music. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the days of grunge, but I’ve got nothing but fond memories of them. When Tantric, a band that was originally formed by three former members of Days of the New, released their self-titled first album, I was thrilled.

A lot of the mainstream radio audience seemed to feel the same, as it received a great reception. Unfortunately, the group’s second album, “After We Go”, didn’t garner nearly as much attention, and not long after the group splintered, leaving frontman Hugo Ferreira bandless. Fortunately, he pulled together a new group of talented musicians and managed to release a new album four years after the release of “After We Go”.

Despite the band being almost entirely new, parts of ‘The End Begins‘ sound very similar to previous Tantric albums. For example, the opening track, “Regret”, could’ve come off either of the group’s previous discs; this is a testament to how Ferreira’s gruff vocals define Tantric as a whole, regardless of who else is in the band.

In the end, this wound up being my only disappointment with “The End Begins”. While it might sound like Tantric’s earlier work at times, it’s never quite the same; this is understandable, since their sound was built nearly from scratch after the band reformed. Tracks like “Why Don’t You” come close enough to their older sound, bringing on a little nostalgia, and I found myself wishing I was listening to the self-titled album instead.

‘The End Begins’ is stacked with highlight tracks, including “The One”, a song with a bit of pop sensibility, featuring Kevin Martin from Candlebox fame. This marks a departure from the style of Tantric’s previous albums, but it’s not necessarily an unwelcome one, as the relative disappointment of their sophomore effort shows; a little more diversity in Tantric’s comeback album certainly won’t hurt in terms of attracting new listeners.

This departure from the band’s previous work is also evident in “Love Song”, which is almost funky of all things. Ferreria’s voice serves as a strange juxtaposition here, like chocolate mixed with Tabasco. The song isn’t quite as delicious as that mixture, but it’s pretty close and shows that Tantric has the potential to branch out from active rock should they wish to do so.

An interesting facet of the album is new member Marcus Ratzenboec’s talent with the electric violin. In particular, the track “Down and Out” highlights the way that the violin, bass, and guitar play off of each other, resulting in a unique sonic dynamic and one of the album’s premier tracks.

All in all, it’s hard to discount The End Begins in its entirety, though it’s got its share of challenges. For “hard rock only” enthusiasts, it may be too heavily focused on slower tracks, and doesn’t quite capture the addictive sound that rocketed Tantric’s first album to mainstream success. However, just because it’s not perfect, doesn’t mean it’s not damn good. Despite essentially being a new band that’s still trying to find its legs, Tantric still knows how to throw together a extremely solid rock album, and that’s more than what many of today’s bands can claim.

Cory