Artist: Tesla
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2008
Runtime: 50:56
Rating: 4/5
With “Forever More,” Tesla continue down a path that its predecessor “Into the Now” (2004) hadn’t exactly signposted. That album introduced a freshly reawakened band with a stripped-down, “downtune” guitar sound, which did the job of delivering the dirty noise the songs are wrapped in. So Tesla are chasing the latest trend. And on the new record they push that trend even harder. The sound has gotten even grittier, and the combo of prominent chorus effect and wah-wah in the riffs is interesting, building the very heart of the new Tesla soundscape!
“Forever More” is a very dark album! The band has the sound they chose for the new songs to thank for that atmosphere. Jeff Keith, whose voice has dropped lower and thinned out in the years since “Bust A Nut” (1994), profits the most from it, since the lower tuning suits him extremely well. The slightly altered way of singing that’s needed to accompany the “alternative” trendy-sounding veil draped over Tesla’s hard rock fits him perfectly, precisely because of how his voice has changed. For all that, his crooked, nasal, cracked and raspy-sharp vocal is recognizable from a mile away, and the second the guy opens his mouth, there isn’t a doubting Thomas left who’d dare think that something other than a new Tesla album is spinning in the CD player.
With today’s (not necessarily needed) chameleon act among bands that shone in melodic hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties and came back after a long absence with a sonically (and partly stylistically) changed sound on new albums (Europe, Skid Row), Tesla have come out best. The changes aren’t drastic, and you can tell from the (still) damn well showcased (naturally inherited and healthily preserved) knack for crafting perfect melodies, which gave Tesla a special place even during the peak of melodic hard rock’s popularity. Considering they’re Americans, that place is all the more special, since they were so much closer to European ears with their masterful combination of melodic sense, beneath which lies a solid foundation of growing up on blues rock, which gives Tesla, along with a refined feel for conjuring drama and emotion, a cheeky potency and erotic allure. And the “European” feel was that much closer also because the Tesla guys never dressed up like girls!
We can split the tracks into two categories. The first is where the traditional clearly shines through from beneath the modern. The second category of songs is where the trendy (modern) is so emphasized that the two approaches are merged in balance.
Let’s start with the first of the two categories, which covers the bulk of the record. The opening title track tells you the essence of everything on the new album. It’s followed by I Wanna Live, which doesn’t let up on holding the reins at this frequency of building atmosphere, and with the many repetitions of the “I Wanna Live” line, Tesla warn us that they’re in the golden age of the midlife crisis. One Day At A Time is a song where, from under the new production, the scent of the traditional “Bust A Nut” days gets even more concrete. The guys don’t renounce that in the punchy, half-ballad cuts Just In Case and Pvt. Ledbetter either, nor in the ballad Fallin’ Apart. The First Time is a song that fully recalls the old days, and its hypothetical inclusion on records from before the “Into the Now” era wouldn’t spoil them in the least. In the closing stretch too, the songs In A Hole Again and (even more trendily stripped-down and blunt, yet at the same time very bluesy) The Game feature this highly effective combination! So here’s proof that you have nothing to fear about Tesla in the new millennium!
The songs in the second category have an even more emphasized dark mood, but with triumphantly catchy, melodic “groovy” choruses! These are So What, All Of Me, and Breakin’ Free. The last two of those especially have outstanding hit potential in this refined merging of new and old.
“Forever More” sounds “groovy,” catchy and trendy! Through it all, Tesla have kept their unique stamp. The combination of newborn “groove” grit and melody remains a winner in Tesla’s hands; it’s up to you how close you’re willing to let these novelties in with Tesla. This album needs more listening to settle under your skin! Even though the songs seem very simple, the atmosphere the album creates is entirely specific, which was also the band’s basic intention. To offer something new, yet different at the same time. Times change and so does Tesla. Fortunately with expressive growth heading upward!
Lineup
Jeff Keith – vocals
Frank Hannon – guitar
Dave Rude – guitar
Brain Wheat – bass guitar
Troy Luccketta – drums
Production
Terry Thomas
Tracklist
1. Forever More (5:02)
2. I Wanna Live (3:35)
3. One Day At A Time (3:11)
4. So What! (3:39)
5. Just In Case (4:38)
6. Fallin’ Apart (4:22)
7. Breakin’ Free (5:02)
8. All Of Me (3:27)
9. The First Time (4:10)
10. Pvt. Ledbetter (3:24)
11. In A Hole Again (5:25)
12. The Game (4:55)
