Tomahawk is a four piece rock band consisting of Mike Patton as vocalist, Duane Denison on guitar, Kevin Rutmanis on bass, and John Stanier on drums. The band was formed in early 2000 by Denison and Patton. Their first CD, a self-titled effort, was released on Ipecac Recordings in 2001. Patton is a veteran of Faith No More, Fantomas, Peeping Tom, and Mr. Bungle. Denison was working as Hank Williams III's lead guitarist before Tomahawk started up; Rutmanis is the current bassist for the Melvins and has worked with the Cows; Stanier bashed for Helmet in the past.
There's not really much to compare the sound of Tomahawk to. CMJ New Music Monthly Report recommends them if one likes Faith No More, The Cows, or The Melvins, but to my ears they don't sound much like the Melvins or FNM, and I've never heard the Cows. That said, Tomahawk's sound is that of a slightly creepy, very talented four piece rock band doing something very different from what most four piece rock bands these days are doing. The creepiness is fueled primarily by Patton's vocals, which seem to somehow always be building tension until the climax of the instruments finally shatters it. It feels as though he's holding something back until just the right time, and that formula works extremely well on this CD; it tempts the listener to listen further and see what the band is going to do next. Patton can legitimately be called a master of measured release of vocal emotion, it seems to me.
The secondary fuel for the eerie moments on Mit Gas is the combination of occasional synthesized atmospherics and the overall dark attitude of the way the instruments are being played. Rutmanis' bass is masterful, often working as a sort of caution that "something wicked this way comes" during the lulls between choruses and more dense instrumental bits. Stanier's drums are powerful: heavy where applicable and well placed, though (perhaps intentionally) not on the level of, say, Tool's Danny Carey. Denison does no wrong, although his performance isn't one that stands out incredibly--in fact, as is characteristic of much great music, no one member of the band stands out notably from the rest (in spite of the fact that I spent a bit longer on Patton than the others). Mit Gas, as such, comes off as a showcase of instruments working in harmony to create a work of art--what music, in my opinion, should be.
In terms of songs, the album starts off on the note of "Birdsong," a track that--straightforwardly enough--features some singing birds in the background. It works fantastically; I was intrigued right off the bat by this one. Things stay with a juxtapositional (quiet-loud, loud-quiet) hard rock theme up 'til "Captain Midnight," a song that begins with some Aphex Twin-like techno beats accompanied by Denison's guitar. The techno breaks away to make room for the chorus work done on real instruments, and it adds up to a success. Directly following that track is "Desastre Natural," which I believe is sung in Spanish. It features Patton's best vocal work on the entire CD and is the slowest track therein. Just after "Desastre's" end, one hears "When The Stars Begin to Fall," an almost thrashy burst of energy that juxtaposes well with the previous track. "Harelip" settles things back into the pre-"Captain Midnight" groove, and "Harlem Clowns" is a downright weird, mostly synthesized atmospheric track that serves as the bridge between the rock of the rest of the CD and the shredding noise of "Aktion 13F14." The lattermost could almost be a bonus track; it's off the wall in a dark sort of way.
There are really no bad songs to the disc, nor any that don't flow into one another. As a result, I should think that Mit Gas is best listened to as a whole piece of music. There can be no doubt that this is at the very least a much different piece of work than Tomahawk's first album, and I do not think there can be much doubt that it is right up there with the best rock releases of this year. The only catch is that, as the quote in the title of this review might hint, the whole work seems to be holding something back; especially in terms of length, it seems like Tomahawk could have done something more with this disc. Perhaps it's an effort to get listeners hooked on the band in anticipation of a future masterpiece. Nonetheless, this disc will be in heavy rotation on my computer for a long time to come.
(thanks to http://www.wma.com/tomahawk/bio/TOMAHAWK.pdf for parts of the background info; title quote from http://www.ipecac.com/bio.php?id=9)
NB: This album's title means "with gas," or in terms of water, "with bubbles."
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