{"id":19019,"date":"2014-06-06T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=19019"},"modified":"2014-06-11T18:52:56","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T18:52:56","slug":"album-review-tesla-simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-tesla-simplicity\/","title":{"rendered":"TESLA – Simplicity (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

TESLA
Simplicity<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Where would the world of hard rock be without the sumptuous sounds of Tesla? For such an underrated band, the California combo have sold almost 15 million records in the United States alone, releasing a batch of outstanding albums, including the superb 1986 debut, Mechanical Resonance<\/em><\/a>, and the brilliant 1989 follow-up, The Great Radio Controversy<\/em>. Tesla are a band who just don\u2019t have it in them to release average records.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been six years since 2008\u2019s excellent Forever More<\/em>, but when you slap this brand spanking new opus on it\u2019ll feel as if they\u2019ve never been away.<\/p>\n

Once again it\u2019s filled with those distinctive yaps and barks of vocalist Jeff Keith, who has that distinctive, cool as fuck style which just lazily makes its presence known on the slow motion stomper \u2018MP3\u2019, which introduces itself via that plodding percussion from Troy Luccketta and Frank Hannon\u2019s sizzling axe work.<\/p>\n

Rarely can words describe a Tesla album. The band somehow find a niche between the commercial and the alternative, marrying together lush rhythms and sturdier shards of rock, the result being an always uplifting, often poignant slab of American rock that transcends fads by effortlessly remaining cool.<\/p>\n

Tesla is a sum of many parts, whether they are ripping up a metal storm or the next minute in complete contrast constructing a sweeping, seemingly hair metal ballad. And then there are the sleazier edged hymns, the swaggering, pulse-racing pomp and of course the occasional drift into psych-tinged, dreamy balladry of sweetness.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ricochet\u2019 has that AC\/DC sort of fiery swagger about it \u2013 a straight up ballsy rocker hinting at a Guns N\u2019 Roses-style of streetwise magic, but it\u2019s oh so much more intelligent as Keith beams \u201cPlaying music every night, having the time of my life, everything will be alright, alright, alright… tonight\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a magic that drips from every musician within the Tesla fold. The throb of \u2018Rise And Fall\u2019 showcases the bubbling bass of Brian Wheat, while the aching acoustics of \u2018So Divine…\u2019 brings Hannon and fellow guitarist Dave Rude together over a solid back beat from Troy Luccketta. It\u2019s joyous, reflective and stirs the soul, but then again, what else did we expect from the quintet?<\/p>\n

\u2018Cross My Heart\u2019 has more in common with the Faces as a boozy, sleazed-up piano-laced rocker, while \u2018Honestly\u2019 is another of those simmering ballads that builds up to a crescendo then falls back on its heels as a moving echo. And with the breezy shuffle of \u2018Burnout To Fade\u2019 to the chugging formidability of \u2018Time Bomb\u2019 and the lush \u2018\u2019Til That Day\u2019, we\u2019ve once again been treated to another spectacular Tesla offering. Predictably brilliant, and oh so simple.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TESLASimplicity Frontiers (2014)Rating: 9\/10 Where would the world of hard rock be without the sumptuous sounds of Tesla? For such an underrated band, the California combo have sold almost 15 million records in the United States alone, releasing a batch of outstanding albums, including the superb 1986 debut, Mechanical Resonance, and the brilliant 1989 follow-up, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19019"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19024,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19019\/revisions\/19024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}