Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: October 7, 2008
Album length: 50.56 min.
Production: Terry Thomas
Genre: Hard Rock
With “Forever More”, Tesla keep walking the path their predecessor “Into the Now” (2004) started to hint at. That album introduced a freshly reawakened band with a stripped-down, down-tuned guitar sound, which did a great job of delivering the dirty noise the songs are wrapped in. So Tesla are chasing the latest trend. That’s why they push it even harder on the new record. The sound has gotten even grittier, and the combination of prominent chorus effect and wah-wah in the riffs is interesting, building the core of the new Tesla soundscape!
“Forever More” is a very dark album! The band owes that atmosphere to the very sound they dressed the new songs in. Jeff Keith, whose voice got lower and thinner in the years after “Bust A Nut” (1994), profits the most here, because the lower tuning suits him down to the ground. The slightly changed way of singing, needed to go along with the “alternative,” trendy-sounding veil draped over Tesla’s hard rock, fits him perfectly, precisely because of the changed character of his voice. And through it all, his cracked, nasal, sandpaper-sharp vocal is recognizable from a mile away. The second that guy opens his mouth, there’s not a single doubting Thomas left who’d dare think that what’s spinning in the CD player isn’t a new Tesla album.
With the (not necessarily needed) chameleon act of bands that shone in melodic hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties and came back after a long hiatus with a changed sound (and partly style) on their new albums (Europe, Skid Row), Tesla got off best. The changes aren’t drastic, and that’s clear from their (still) damn-good, naturally inherited and healthily preserved knack for crafting perfect melodies, which gave Tesla a special place even in the heyday of melodic hard rock. Considering they’re Americans, it’s an even more special place, since they were that much closer to European ears with their masterful blend of melody, sitting on a solid foundation of growing up on blues rock, which gives Tesla, alongside a refined feel for drama and emotion, a brazen potency and erotic allure. And that “European” feel was so close also because the Tesla guys never dressed up like girls!
The songs can be split into two categories. In the first, the traditional clearly shows through from beneath the modern. The second category is where the trendy (modern) side is pushed so far that the two approaches end up fused in perfect 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. Next comes I Wanna Live, which keeps the reins just as tight on this frequency of atmosphere-building, and with the many repetitions of the “I Wanna Live” verse, Tesla are letting us know they’re in the golden age of the midlife crisis. One Day At A Time is a track where, beneath the new production, it smells even more strongly of the traditional “Bust A Nut” days. The guys don’t give that up in the punchy, half-ballad-style Just In Case and Pvt. Ledbetter either, nor in the ballad Fallin’ Apart. The First Time is a song that sounds entirely like the old days, and if it had been included on the pre-“Into the Now” records, it wouldn’t have spoiled them one bit. Even in the closing stretch, with In A Hole Again and (even more fashionably stripped-down and curt, yet at the same time very bluesy) The Game, this highly effective combination is the hallmark! So here’s your proof that you’ve got nothing to fear from Tesla in the new millennium!
The second category’s songs have an even more pronounced dark mood, but with triumphantly catchy, melodic “groovy” choruses! These are So What, All Of Me, and Breakin’ Free. The last two in particular have outstanding hit potential in this refined merging of new and old.
“Forever More” sounds “groovy,” catchy and trendy! Tesla have kept their unique stamp through it all. The combination of newborn “groove” grit and melody remains a winning one in Tesla’s hands, and it’s up to you how close you’re willing to let these novelties in Tesla get to you. This album takes more listens to settle under your skin! Even though the songs come across as very simple, the atmosphere the album creates is totally specific, which was the band’s main goal all along. To offer something new, but different at the same time. Times change, and so does Tesla. Luckily, they’re growing upward in expression!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
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)
Lineup:
Jeff Keith – vocals
Frank Hannon – guitar
Dave Rude – guitar
Brain Wheat – bass
Troy Luccketta – drums
