{"id":70827,"date":"2018-06-08T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=70827"},"modified":"2018-07-19T00:20:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T00:20:57","slug":"album-review-tnt-xiii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-tnt-xiii\/","title":{"rendered":"TNT – XIII (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

TNT
XIII<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Well I\u2019ll be damned, if it isn\u2019t one of my favourite melodic metal bands back with a new album after a gap of eight years since 2010\u2019s A Farewell To Arms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I loved this Norwegian act back in the 80s when they were responsible for such gems as TNT<\/em> (1982), Knights Of The New Thunder<\/em> (1984), Tell No Tales<\/em> (1987) and Intuition<\/em> (1989). They were the glory years, the golden days of hard rock and metal, and yet in spite of continued success through the 90s with Realized Fantasies<\/em> (1992), Firefly<\/em> (1997) and Transistor<\/em> (1999) I\u2019m of the opinion that the quality deteriorated. However, it didn\u2019t stop the band marching into the new millennium with 2004\u2019s My Religion<\/em>, 2005\u2019s All The Way To The Sun<\/em>, 2007\u2019s The New Territory<\/em>, 2008\u2019s Atlantis<\/em> and of course the aforementioned A Farewell To Arms<\/em>… that period being arguably the band\u2019s most productive.<\/p>\n

This latest outing marks the TNT recording debut of new vocal warbler Baol Bardot Bulsara and bassist Ove Husemoen, who join original members Ronni Le Tekr\u00f8 (guitar) and Diesel Dahl (drums). And with XIII<\/em> I still hear a band that\u2019s fresh, vibrant and full of energy.<\/p>\n

Baol\u2019s voice is pleasant on the ears as is the music throughout this 12-track outing, TNT dishing out glossy, pristine melodic rock that flirts \u2013 although in limited quantities \u2013 with what we\u2019d deem metal. Ronni Le Tekr\u00f8, as always, is still responsible for the tight riffs and sweet leads, but TNT has certainly opted for a more AOR approach.<\/p>\n

The melodies feel sugary and light, the drums are airy and the bass is nifty but fluffy, and the sound in general often leads towards poppier sensibilities on the likes of \u2018Catch A Wave\u2019 and \u2018We\u2019re Gonna Make It\u2019. \u2018Tears In My Eyes\u2019 does have dashes of the metallic, but the overall content is more summery and bubblegum as flecks of Tyketto and the likes breathe in.<\/p>\n

Those seeking heavier details won\u2019t be disappointed when they do emerge, however. \u2018People, Come Together\u2019 is a fine example of how the guitars, when given freedom, cut deep in the solo department, while the dreadfully titled \u2018Get Ready For Some Hard Rock\u2019 thumps with an anthemic quality circa Queen\u2019s \u2018We Will Rock You\u2019 mixed with Def Leppard, but equipped with an early 90s swagger.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fair Warning\u2019 is probably my favourite cut on the record. This one offers a darker guitar rumble and more oomph in the vocal cries, and again there\u2019s that saunter throughout led by Ronni Le Tekr\u00f8\u2019s divine touch. \u2018Where You Belong\u2019 offers up the aching bittersweet balladry as Baol whispers \u201cWoke this morning and said your name, blew a kiss but all in vain\u201d<\/em>. This track offers up a dose of haunting melancholy where the vocals steadily build to higher echelons. \u2018It\u2019s Electric\u2019 loiters once again in poppier realms, as do \u2018Can\u2019t Breathe Anymore\u2019 and closer \u2018Sunshine\u2019, while in contrast there\u2019s a touch of meatiness about \u2018Not Feeling Anything\u2019.<\/p>\n

So TNT\u2019s fresh start stirs up a myriad of emotions. While the band will always have a place in my soul, I have to say I\u2019m a touch disappointed by the flakiness on show throughout XIII<\/em>. It\u2019s a record that lacks a strong enough back bone in spite of a spattering of hardier numbers, while for the most part the sugary tones seem to come in thick waves. One can\u2019t really argue with some of the softer melodies, as they do make the hairs tingle and Baol Bardot Bulsara\u2019s voice certainly seems up to the task. But in an age where Stryper outweighs TNT, I naturally have to have my concerns.<\/p>\n

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

TNTXIII Frontiers (2018)Rating: 7\/10 Well I\u2019ll be damned, if it isn\u2019t one of my favourite melodic metal bands back with a new album after a gap of eight years since 2010\u2019s A Farewell To Arms. I loved this Norwegian act back in the 80s when they were responsible for such gems as TNT (1982), Knights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4056],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-tnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70827","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=70827"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70832,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70827\/revisions\/70832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}