Opinions on the Hard Rock Tourniquet Albums

Tourniquet is undoubtedly one of my favorite bands of all-time. They don't seem to care one bit to experiment with their music in the most ridiculous and quirky ways, even at the expense of alienating the metal community (Intro to Chart of the Elements, for example.) In other words, they do what they want and don't curr.

Though this experimentation doesn't always work, it makes for a very interesting listen, but the only two Tourniquet albums I don't have and the two I am a bit weary of are Vanishing Lessons and Crawl to China. The former often compared to Metallica's Black Album, and the latter described as an abomination.

But I was reading through an old thread the other day (ranking the Tourniquet discography), and these two albums were unexpectedly high on their lists.

So what are your 2 cents on them?

Vanishing Lessons is indeed more streamlined in terms of arrangements, but it's not what I would call "commercial". It still very much has a Tourniquet "mood" about it. Luke sounds great on it, and the last song "Sola Christus" is really, really good.

I can stomach the metalcore material on their latest album, which is really something for me, but I'm not so sure about songs like "Bats" on Crawl to China. On the other hand, that album boasts "White Knucklin' the Rosary" which really impressed me.

And the only song from Vanishing Lessons that I have heard and liked was "Pecking Order."

"Bearing Gruesome Cargo" on Vanishing Lessons is really good...

I really like Crawl, sure there's a couple songs like Bats that seem throw away but overall it's a solid listen. Luke's got that little bit of snarl going well at times too like in Enveloped in Python.

I like all their albums to some degree.Vanishing Lessons is really good, Luke sounds great on this one.Lots of groove and catchiness.
As you mentioned White Knuckling the Rosary, it's probably my favorite on Crawl to China.Yes it's a bit different from their other stuff but there are still good catchy riffs all over it.If you like good groove and crunch you won't mind either of these albums.

I adore Vanishing Lessons and it's probably tied with Psychosurgery and Pathogenic as my favorite Tourniquet album. I've listened to it so much I could probably play the whole thing forwards and backwards in my head.

Crawl to China is more hit and miss for me. I like some songs a lot and others bore me. I think if it's trimmed down to about 2/3 its normal length it makes for a much better listen. Still one of my least favorite Tourniquet albums.

Slightly off topic, the one Tourniquet album I find has not been of lasting quality for me is Antiseptic Bloodbath. Whenever I try to revisit it it leaves me cold, something i don't expect from Tourniquet. It's probably my least favorite of theirs, although I still don't have Onward to Freedom.

Thrasher73 wrote:

I like all their albums to some degree.Vanishing Lessons is really good, Luke sounds great on this one.Lots of groove and catchiness.
As you mentioned White Knuckling the Rosary, it's probably my favorite on Crawl to China.Yes it's a bit different from their other stuff but there are still good catchy riffs all over it.If you like good groove and crunch you won't mind either of these albums.

X2

I like Vanishing Lessons quite a bit. I certainly wouldn't call it "just hard rock". It's not thrash metal by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not like Creed or something either. I thought that Crawl to China was a little bit too 'all-over-the-place" musically. It wasn't a cohesive album IMO, though there are some songs I really like on it.

Vanishing Lessons is my favorite of the two. Crawl is ok but VL is much stronger.

I actively like Vanishing Lessons. It's very good. I don't really care for Crawling to China at all.

For some reason, I love Crawling To China while Vanishing happens to be one of my least listened to Tourniquet albums. I'm an odd duck in that aspect (hell, I'm an odd duck in a LOT of aspects ).

Ok, let's see...



VANISHING LESSONS

I wouldn't call Vanishing Lessons a hard rock album. It's VERY heavy. Certainly slower than the first three albums, but it's still heavy metal. Perhaps it goes on the groove metal side in a few songs, but there are great heavy metal riffs here and there. It has some "thrashy" moments too, but in a slower style.

In my opinion, this album has Luke Easter's best vocals. There's just something in it that Luke hasn't been able to achive in later albums.

01. Bearing Gruesome Cargo
For some reason this seems to be a fan favorite that gets played a lot on their live shows. To me, this has always been one of the least interesting songs on the album. I tend to like darker and sadder riffs, so I guess this sounds a bit too happy for me. It has a nice groove and the faster part in the middle of the song is great, and actually one of the best moments in the whole album, but too bad it's just a small part of the song.

02. Pecking Order
Great! I love the main riff. I guess this has more of a traditional heavy metal feel than what the groovier previous song has. Or at least the chorus has. This is one of my all time favorite Tourniquet tracks. And again, the middle part of the song has SUPER COOL stuff!

03. Drowning Machine
A very heavy song. This used to be one of the least favorites from this album, but I've grown to like it more.
And... AGAIN cool stuff in the middle of the song!

04. Pushin' Broom
My another all time favorite from Tourniquet. Melancholy and moody track. Dark and heavy. Beautiful chorus.
and............ AGAIN hyper super cool stuff in the middle of the song!

05. Vanishing Lessons
I love this song! This groove riff beats any other groove riff ever made by anyone.

06. My Promise
Very melancholic and sad song. I like the orchestrated version on Carry the Wounded more though.

07. Acidhead
Another fan favorite. It's ok. It has never been one of my favorites on this album, but is very good nevertheless.

08. K517
A drum solo played over a harpsichord. Great stuff.

09. Twilight
Hyper happy pop song. I've had a hard time to get used to it. Used to skip this song a lot but I've kinda grown to like it a bit. Still, perhaps the least interesting track in the whole album.

10. Your Take
Heavy stuff, I like it a lot.

11. Sola Christus
Amazing super heavy doomy track written by Victor Macias! One of my favorite closing tracks in any album ever.



Great album. Most tracks has some kind of a cool part near the middle of the song, so when you listen to the songs, listen them fully through or you might miss something great.





CRAWL TO CHINA

Now this one is more like hard rock, even though it has its heavy metal (and even punk) moments too.

(note: track listing is from the remastered version)

01. White Knucklin' the Rosary
This was my favorite track of this album for quite a long time. I like the simple groovy main riff. It has some kinda "pop-punk'ish" riffing here and there too which could be bad but here it sounds ok. Cool small double bass moment near the end of the song.

02. Going, Going... Gone
My favorite track of the album, and one of my all time Tourniquet favorites.
A few mammoth-like groove riffs go through the song. It has a style and feeling I haven't heard in any other song by Tourniquet, or any other band for that matter.
It kinda grows from neutral groovy track into a bit darker and sadder song. And I absolutely LOVE the heavy guitar harmonies near the end of the song. Gives me chills every time!

03. Proprioception: The Line Knives Syndrome
Odd riffing at first, but later some very simple and cool dark heavy groove riffing begins.

04. Crawl to China
Never really liked this song much. Sure it's very heavy, but it just doesn't click with me.

05. If I Was There
Took me a while to get into the song. It's a happy little ballad. Not really stuff for my liking, it's much better than Twilight on Vanishing Lessons.

06. Tire Kicking
The fastest track of the album. It has some very basic rock riffing, but it's a very energetic and aggressive song.

07. If Pigs Could Fly
A semi-melancholic balladish track. It's my favorite Tourniquet "ballad" after My Promise. Near the end you can hear a part with riffs from many early Tourniquet tracks.

08. Stumblefoot
The punkiest track of the album, with some nice double bass work here and there.

09. Enveloped in Python
The main riff is pretty good, but I think the "weird avantgarde" parts lessen the value of the song a bit.

10. The Tell-Tale Heart
I've always liked the melancholic opening of the track. I kinda like the dark tone of the song, but for some reason it hasn't really grabbed me that much. It's a good song to listen through, but I haven't ever listened to this album thinking that "yeah I'm gonna listen The Tell-Tale Heart."

11. Bats
I don't know which song is my least favorite Tourniquet ever: Twilight or Bats.
Maybe this is better as it has this small part that has a melancholic guitar melody/riff I enjoy quite a bit.

12. Crank the Knife
It's like The Tell-Tale Heart in that it's nice to listen through, but it's not a track I'm thinking of when I'm thinking about listening to Crawl to China. I kinda like the chorus. And the ending is good with the melancholic guitar and that weird voice saying something weird.

13. Claustrospelunker
Opens with JAZZ. This was the original album opener. It was quite a thing to listen to this for the first time when the album was released
I guess the song is quite catchy, but it's very VERY pop-rock. Maybe kinda soft-grunge or something like that. As usual for Tourniquet tracks, this one also has a sudden middle part that completely differs from the rest of the song. Although the song isn't even nearly one of my Tourniquet favorites, this middle part is one of my all time favorite Tourniquet moments.

14. Imaginary Friend
I think this is the best song Aaron Guerra has written. I think that usually his songs are the least good in Tourniquet albums, but I like this one a lot. The verses might not be good in this one, but the chorus is great, and I love the way Luke sings it. It's one of my favorite Luke performances.
The happy end part kills the mood a bit though.

15. America
Instrumental.
Not one of my favorite Tourniquet instrumentals. Not a bad song though.







And now, if someone asks me what they should and what they shouldn't listen from both of the albums, here is my answer:

THE BEST = I frequently listen to these albums because I want to hear these songs
GOOD = Enjoy hearing these, and sometimes play the CD for these songs
OK = Quite enjoy listening to these, but pretty much never start listening to the albums in hope to hear these songs. Good to listen when listening through the album, but perhaps not much more
AVOID = self explanatory


VANISHING LESSONS

THE BEST
Pecking Order
Pushin' Broom
Vanishing Lessons
My Promise
Sola Christus

GOOD
Acidhead
K517
Your Take

OK
Bearing Gruesome Cargo
Drowning Machine

AVOID
Twilight



CRAWL TO CHINA

THE BEST
White Knucklin' a Rosary
Going, Going... Gone
Tire Kicking
Proprioception
If Pigs Could Fly
Imaginary Friend

GOOD
Stumblefoot

OK
America
Clustrospelunker
Crank the Knife
Enveloped in Python
If I Was There
The Tell-Tale Heart

OK, BUT THE LEAST OK (if that makes any sense )
Crawl to China

AVOID
Bats



IMPORTANT TO NOTICE:
Songs from all of the categories might have, and probably will have, a short part that might be some of the best stuff Tourniquet has ever done. So, when listening to Tourniquet, you must endure even the worst songs, as there just might be something very very very good hidden in otherwise bad or average song.

And here are three samples from both albums, which I think everyone not familiar with the albums should listen.
Listen the WHOLE songs, as there always might be some great parts in the middle or near the end of the song.


VANISHING LESSONS









CRAWL TO CHINA (had to put four songs...)












If you enjoyed some of these songs, then check out the rest of the songs. You might find them quite good.

Wow, nice breakdown. This'll come in handy, thank you!

I like VL just as it is, nothing too spectacular but not a bad album.

I actually enjoy C2C, but I feel that it's a bit too long. Years ago, I burned a copy with three of the slower/lighter tunes taken out and the flow and feel sounds better to my ears at a respectful 52 minutes versus the nearly 70 minutes of the original.

VL is a badass album. Give it a listen.

C2C is all over the place like many have mentioned, but it has its gems. Enveloped in python!

I bought "Vanishing Lessons" today.

I'm currently battling iTunes to get it synced onto my iPod. It loses it's shit every time I try to sync a non-iTunes purchase.