{"id":61521,"date":"2017-09-15T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T00:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=61521"},"modified":"2017-09-30T14:45:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-30T14:45:41","slug":"album-review-josh-todd-and-the-conflict-year-of-the-tiger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-josh-todd-and-the-conflict-year-of-the-tiger\/","title":{"rendered":"JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICT – Year Of The Tiger (2017) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICT
Year Of The Tiger<\/strong><\/span>
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\nCentury Media (2017)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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As a massive fan of Buckcherry I eagerly awaited this brand new project from mercurial, heavily-inked frontman Josh Todd who, alongside guitarist Stevie Dacanay, has put together a raucous effort.<\/p>\n

My big concern was that the duo \u2013 who are accompanied by bassist Gregg Cash and drummer Sean Winchester \u2013 might simply have resorted to too many Buckcherry shades; especially when one considers that Todd\u2019s volatile bark has been so recognisable through the years. But Year Of The Tiger<\/em> is the sort of album he needed to construct, and an opus that, dare I say it, is even more reckless than the band he has become famous for fronting.<\/p>\n

Year Of The Tiger<\/em> offers up a hefty batch of abrasive numbers that don\u2019t exactly stray from the path. One could argue that this sleaze-ridden, urban street trip is at times a touch generic \u2013 the sort of middle of the road, but often edgy daze that would more likely appeal to Foo Fighters\u2019 fans rather than rough \u2018n\u2019 tumble gangsters and ghetto dwellers. But I\u2019ve always loved Buckcherry, and so I knew I was going to like this new project.<\/p>\n

With Todd\u2019s snaps and raps you get a no frills but in-your-face procession of friction, and the combo behind him will no doubt spawn scratchy riffs, stressed percussion and biting, snapping bass lines. It\u2019s rock \u2018n\u2019 roll from the gutter \u2013 a place where Josh Todd revels in order to tell his tales of desperation and angst amid a wail of police sirens, gang culture and Bronx Warriors-styled combats and inner torment.<\/p>\n

Occasionally we\u2019ll be treated to more melodic flecks, funkier dashes and bluesier swaggers, particularly on the excellent \u2018Rain\u2019 with its brooding, stomping first half before it steps into a more rugged groove. Todd is on full form here, his gnawing nasal whine complimented by Stevie Dacanay\u2019s crunching guitar work.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum we have the far spikier title track. It\u2019s full throttle from the off, with Todd\u2019s riotous rasps matched by the crushing percussion, but oddly it\u2019s the sort of grating groove that hints more towards the likes of The Bronx rather than anything more seedier or urgent. That\u2019s not to say that Todd hasn\u2019t carved out a rampant, and often frothing rock \u2018n\u2019 roll record, but there\u2019s still that modern shine which affects a majority of the tracks however gritty and street-level they try to be.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s vast music market there seems to be an awful tendency for bands to leak into a rather radio friendly design, and this does appear evident on here with tracks such as ballad \u2018Good Enough\u2019 with its strong M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce vibe, meanwhile \u2018Inside\u2019 also has a Cr\u00fce flavour with extra contemporary charge in its rumble.<\/p>\n

\u2018Atomic\u2019 injects further fiery life back into proceedings with its funky strut, but things get patchy again with the cover Prince\u2019s rather tepid \u2018Erotic City\u2019, and while \u2018Story Of My Life\u2019 builds well it soon becomes a rather flaky radio-friendly plodder.<\/p>\n

It could of course be argued that Year Of The Tiger<\/em> boasts a collection of tunes not quite suitable enough for the Buckcherry cannon, but there\u2019s still that strong element of a good times vibe about the platter and so the album remains unapologetic in its clambering and hammering.<\/p>\n

The gnarly \u2018Fucked Up\u2019 is a short sharp slap to the face complete with choppy rhythms which throb in typical Buckcherry fashion except for that beefier guitar tone, while \u2018Push It\u2019 opts for similar simplicity but with extra layers of melody in guitar tone and vocal dispute.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where the album sits; occasional flits with Buckcherry-styled brat-rock coupled with at times generic contemporary glean fleetingly tarnished with grubbier smears. The thing is, with Todd\u2019s style of vocal this sort of rebellious rock is always going to have that strong Buckcherry tinge, and so he might have to come up with something entirely different if he\u2019s to escape from that straight down the line groove. With that in mind, Year Of The Tiger<\/em> feels like an at times sub-par Buckcherry but with flashes of excellence.<\/p>\n

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

JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICTYear Of The Tiger Century Media (2017)Rating: 7\/10 As a massive fan of Buckcherry I eagerly awaited this brand new project from mercurial, heavily-inked frontman Josh Todd who, alongside guitarist Stevie Dacanay, has put together a raucous effort. My big concern was that the duo \u2013 who are accompanied by bassist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-josh-todd-the-conflict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61521","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=61521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61524,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61521\/revisions\/61524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}