So NWOBHM stalwarts The TIGERS OF PANG TANG (TOPT) are back with their 13th studio album RITUAL. Now I’m not going to go through their many line up changes, but I will say like their NWOBHM compatriots Def Leppard, they are a million miles away from their first record (WILD CAT). Is this the lineup changes, equipment upgrades or just good old fashioned musical evolution? Either way, should we really hang on so tightly to the sounds that made them just because they evoke a time we’d return to if we could (rose-tinted moment). Yes, there are moments on this record that I skipped over because it was a little too Americana for my taste. Destiny, the lead single off the record is the main culprit. It’s so VERY radio-friendly that it almost sounds straight from an Aerosmith record. I’m thinking the Love in an Elevator period. (Now I’m first to admit I bought it but hey we were all young and stupid once). I know that the band has been moving away from the dirty sound in their later albums, but that does not mean I have to like the direction they are going.
I might be a little harsh here as it has some redeeming features like the vocals – they remind me of early Ian Gillan and THAT dear reader is a good thing. It all kicks off from track 4 as we get some old TOPT. Raise Some Hell cuts through the AOR Trope with lovely CLASSIC TOPT dirty overdriven Gibson’s and some delicious bass-heavy parts, so much sing along you can’t help want to grab the nearest hairbrush and throw some heavily demined shapes. Then we jump to Rescue Me with FANTASTIC CHUGGING SLOW guitars. So it seems that the latter half of this record is saving grace.
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They seemed to have dropped the Leppard Ballard songbook and have returned to their roots.
We move swiftly onto White Lines which starts with a guitar refrain that seems to have stuck in my head for the 2 weeks I have been listening to this record not to mention the sing-along element (which if you have not gathered by now I love VERY much). Galloping on to Words Cut like Knives another ballad, mercifully moves swiftly by and leaves no impression but for a generic solo and childishly lonely broken-hearted lyric. This leads us into Damn You, a very infectious slab of FUN. I have skipped to this track more times than I should have but it really feels and sounds like (and is amazingly similar to) the music of my youth. Just bloody good fun and the kind of music my DAD hated when I played it loud out of my old CRAPPY stereo back in the eighties. It makes me want for my tennis racket I used to use as my guitar and wow. what shapes I pulled. It keeps on coming with Love Will Find a Way which is their WHITE SNAKE moment and from someone who was at Donnington the year White Snake headlined with STEVE VAI on guitar, this is very much a compliment.
On the penultimate track, Art Of Noise we get the band’s musical abilities shown off with some really funky bass and some of that NWOBHM chug we all know and love. TOPT ends the record on a very European metal sound with Sail On. It’s a Sonata Arctica and Kingdom Come, a bastard child that has a windswept and tundra feel to it, I can almost feel the wind in my hair whilst the solo whizzes by. Every great metal record of this ilk has an epic and Sail On is RITUALS epic moment although it is no Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner (but to be fair there is NOTHING like that).
This is a FANTASTIC record. For the minor faults it may have (and they are purely subjective) the high’s outweigh the lows. Go get some Tiger in your tank and rock-like we have done for decades and don’t forget to put on your battle jacket and throw some Shapes.
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Out now on Mighty Music (HAIR BRUSH NOT PROVIDED).
Release Year: 2019
Label: Target Group / Mighty Music
Category: Album
Country: UK
Reviewed by Tony Evans
