Tsavo
An Ocean of Chaos
Independent Release
2014
Maybe I’m not very young anymore, but when I think of Seattle, I think of this so called Seattle sound. Well Tsavo are a band from Seattle that has nothing to do with that sound. They are a hard/alternative (flirting with progressive) rock act who, in a few words, know how to play their instruments and write pretty good songs. However, they belong to that small group of bands where these two things are not enough.
I don’t know… it’s not that “An Ocean of Chaos” has anything wrong, but at the same time I can’t say it has that little “something” either. I’ll say one thing (running the risk of sounding like such an old-timer); rock music needs a certain amount of spunk. Tsavo don’t have that and so most of their tracks fall flat. Take “Scratchle Brain” and “Introvert” for example, technical as they may be, they lack the wow element that would make them something more than background music to a pretty good movie trailer. On the other hand, the guitar work in “Critical Mass”, for example, is immaculate and pretty impressive, especially during that high-pitched solo.
Perhaps it’s the Porcupine Tree style watered down vocals that’s to blame. Perhaps it’s the lack of surprise when it comes to that generic crisp production sound of the whole album. I mean the entire record (excluding “The Darkest Place I Know” and “With All Hope Lost”) kinda sounds like one really long track. Mind you we’re talking about 13 tracks with a total running time of something shorter of an hour.
Like I said before, I don’t know. The truth is I wasn’t impressed with anything concerning this album and I don’t care how many Hard Rock Battle of the Bands Tsavo may have won in the past.
I don’t know… it’s not that “An Ocean of Chaos” has anything wrong, but at the same time I can’t say it has that little “something” either. I’ll say one thing (running the risk of sounding like such an old-timer); rock music needs a certain amount of spunk. Tsavo don’t have that and so most of their tracks fall flat. Take “Scratchle Brain” and “Introvert” for example, technical as they may be, they lack the wow element that would make them something more than background music to a pretty good movie trailer. On the other hand, the guitar work in “Critical Mass”, for example, is immaculate and pretty impressive, especially during that high-pitched solo.
Perhaps it’s the Porcupine Tree style watered down vocals that’s to blame. Perhaps it’s the lack of surprise when it comes to that generic crisp production sound of the whole album. I mean the entire record (excluding “The Darkest Place I Know” and “With All Hope Lost”) kinda sounds like one really long track. Mind you we’re talking about 13 tracks with a total running time of something shorter of an hour.
Like I said before, I don’t know. The truth is I wasn’t impressed with anything concerning this album and I don’t care how many Hard Rock Battle of the Bands Tsavo may have won in the past.