So: Thomas Giles, also known as Tommy Rogers – Singer/Keyboardist from a favourite band of mine, prog metallers ‘Between the Buried and Me’ releases what is his second, it’s often misconstrued as his first attempt, solo album, however it is the first to be released under the guise of Thomas Giles. Despite the knowledge of said first album, I’ve not actually heard it myself so I went into this album with somewhat high expectations of loving the album but not sure what style of music to expect.
What did I think when I first listened to it?
To be honest, not much, It wasn’t anywhere near the quality of Between the Buried and Me’s output, so quite frankly I turned it off after the first couple of songs. Not a promising start, especially since lead song ‘Sleep Shake’ is also the first single to be released from the album. But, me being me, I know music I listen to changes with my mood, so I thought I’d give it another go, this time starting from the last song ‘Hypoxia’ ,working my way backwards and boy was I glad I did! It has slow keyboards, harp (or at least I think it is anyway), woodwind, acoustic guitar and piano which build up into a thunderous electric guitar driven second chorus, the vocals are beautifully fragile and if it hadn’t been for this song, I wouldn’t have bothered with the rest of the album again.
Going back to ‘Sleep Shake’ I liked it more and more with each listen, same goes for most of the rest of the album. The curveball of the album is definitely ‘Medic’, which bashes you round the head with riffs galore and screamed vocals that have more in common with ‘Between the Buried and Me’ than the rest of the album; that said, somehow, it still fits in.
I was surprised to learn that Rogers’ recorded all of the music and also produced the record. This has been expertly handled on what I gather to be his first attempt at the helm of the record, I couldn’t ask for a crisper and clearer sound.
Overall, the album is generally like a less busy, much mellower with shorter songs version of Rogers’ day job, a bit of Muse, a bit of Nine Inch Nails mixed in with the electronic side of Radiohead. Sure there are a few dud songs (‘Catch & Release’, ‘Reject Falcon’ and ‘Suspend the Death Watch’ – I’m looking at you), but this album is definitely a grower and the rest of the album, I now love after listening for a few weeks here and there, I suggest you check it out if you are a fan of any of the bands I have mentioned throughout this review or love good music in general.
‘Pulse’ is out on 1 February on Metal Blade
Words – Dan Roberts
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