Tourniquet - Where Moth and Rust Destroy

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Tourniquet has changed so much over the years.  Gone are the medical terms.  Gone are all the original members except for Ted Kirkpatrick.  Gone are all the songs about the treatment of animals.  Heck, even some of their old fans are gone for one reason or another.  But for those of us who've stuck around, we've still been granted the priviledge of listening to one solid heavy metal album after another.  Now, every one of these solid metal albums has had it's peaks and valleys.  For example, compare "Besprinkled in Scarlet Horror" with "Servent of the Bones".  Then compare "Enveloped in Phython" with "Bats".  You get my point?  But overall, the band has perservered and survived and have actually stayed quite strong in their outputs. 
 
Now comes Where Moth and Rust Destroy, and again, Tourniquet unleashes another fine album of technical, progressive, thrash-influenced heavy metal.  Again, this album has it's peaks and valleys (compare "Drawn and Quartered" with "In Death We Rise"), but as always, the peaks far outnumber the valleys and this album is yet another Tourniquet disc that gives me hope that this band will be one I'll be introducing to my great grandkids in 50 years.
 
Musically, the band is a tight as ever.  We've heard nothing but that in the past, and the guys do not let us down this time.  Ted Kirkpatrick continues to show why he is still one of the top 5 drummers in Christian metal even after all these years.  He's just plain fun to listen to.  And probably even more fun to watch live.  And if having one "superstar" in the band wasn't enough, the band enlists the help of Marty Friedmen (Megadeth) and Bruce Franklin (Trouble) to assist in some of the guitar duties.  Needless to say, the guitar playing on this disc is steller.
 
Vocally, Luke Easter does a fine job.  One thing I want to comment on though...there has been a lot of talk going around lately about the "horrible" singing of Luke Easter.  I think the guy has a fabulous voice.  Now granted, since he uses so many vocal variations on each album, there are a few that just don't quite work too well.  But for the most part I think he does an excellent job.  He kind've an acquired taste really.
 
Best songs on this disc are probably "Drawn and Quartered", "Restoring the Locust Years", and "Healing Waters of the Tigris".  One thing that really sticks out to me though is the bands amazing attention to detail in these songs, and in every song of the album.  There are so many intricacies within the different songs.  Whether it be the rushing sound of water, or the call of Flipper the dolphin (seriously!), or the roar of a crowd, or any number of things that I'm probably forgetting.  Tourniquet doesn't just rush into the studio, pound away on their drums and guitars, scream real loud, and rush back out the door.  It's obvious that a great deal of time and hard labor is put into every recording that this band puts forth.
 
As if the music wasn't good enough, Tourniquet has to be one of the top lyrical bands in music today.  What they have to say is so insightful and interesting.  Even those who hate metal should check out the bands lyrics, because they are such a good read.  The band avoids the common "Christian" clichés like the plague.  They are bold enough to where the pickiest of Christians can't complain about them being ashamed of their faith.  And yet I've seen very anti-Christian people compliment them on their lyrical abilities and express their thankfulness that they aren't too preachy.  
 
The title track addresses the issue of materialism with the following words:  "Enjoy all that He gives you/But make sure you can see through/The haze that blocks the clarity/Of seeing the eternity."  They also have gang vocals in the song that scream:  "Choose!  You must choose!  Who you serve!"  Then in the song "Restoring the Locust Years" the band talks of how God can restore the years that the locusts have stolen:  "Manifold is misery - symbiotic history of trials/Soon a yard turns into miles - a day becomes a year/No path set before me presents itself as clear - confusion without peer/The cudgel of forlorn dreams - hits me square and final/Restoring the locust years."
 
I've heard a LOT of negative about this band and this particular album lately (which I won't go into), but upon giving this album a very fair chance, it has grown on me to the point where I can say that it is one of my top Tourniquet albums of the Luke Easter-era.  Say what you want about this band...they might not be the best around, and maybe they are even past their own prime, but if this were a brand new album from a brand new band, a lot of the whiners would be drooling over this great new find.  Great disc Tourniquet.  Looking forward to the next!  (Review by Matt)

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