Search - Tempest :: Double Cross

Double Good

Purplemaniac | Rochester, NY | 08/21/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This one flat out rocks, folks. Tempest is one of the few bands out there today for whom the name "folk-rock" is not a misnomer. So many bands who call themselves "folk-rock" bands are merely ELECTRIFIED FOLK bands. They think that by adding electric bass and electric guitar to folk music they are turning it into rock music. But alas, they perform with no rock and roll intensity, so they are little more than RLECTRIFIED FOLK bands. Tempest, meanwhile, performs with true rock and roll intensity and the name "folk-rock" fits them to a T. With their previous release, Shapeshifter, while a fine effort from the band, something was lacking in the production. There was no low end, ie, while you could hear the bass, it was flat and lifeless and lacking in realism. It had no "oomph." The instruments were also meshed together into a uniform sound; in fact they were so meshed together that when I flipped the switch to "mono" on my stereo, there was virtually no difference in the sound. With Double Cross, these problems have been gladly corrected and the results are spectacularly improved. The bass here is beefy, thick, full, rich and realistic and has an "oomph" that you can feel as well as hear. This is how rock and roll bass should ALWAYS be produced. Add crisp drums up in the mix and electric guitar that has been boosted in the mix and WOW! There is also space between and among the instruments here. They have been allowed to breathe so that you can clearly hear each instrument's contribution to the total sound, rather than uniformly meshing all the instruments flatly together as on the previous album. So it sounds like the band is performing "live" in front of you. But what good is great production if the performance is lousy? Well folks, the performance on the contrary is very good. Here Tempest not only performs with rock and roll intensity, but has made a conscious effort to vary its sound more than ever before. We get additional instruments added such as harmonica, bagpipes, piano, flute and didgeridoo. Everything is thrown in but the kitchen sink. We get bass solos, tempo changes, playful interation between the instruments as well as electric guitar and fiddle playing in note-for-note unsison and on one song a Slavic sound which we haven't heard before from these lads. All in all, this is another fine effort from a band whose consistency of sound has been amazing considering all the personnel turnover they have had over the years."

Capitan Kidd and the Bottle of Vodka or The Second Edition o

Sergey Lenkov | Mother Russia | 07/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are fan of Jethro Tull and among your favorite albums are "Minstrel in the Gallery", "Songs from the Wood", "Stormwatch", "The Broadsword and the Beast" - you should add this album to your collection.

"My name is William Kidd and I sailed and I sailed..." - starts the first song about pirate capitan - and Lief Sorbye sings it so that you could think - oh, it is unknown record by young Ian Anderson!!! After that you hear juicy riffs in style of good old rock of the 1970s - and you are involved in the floating of the music. To be true Tempest got own distinctive sound - instead of Anderson`s flute you would listen to energetic viola solos by Michael Mullen. And the lady Ariane Cap plays bass guitar, so Tempest presents you exquisite hard-prog rock. So you could imagine this sound - acoustic guitar, riffs, drums, viola and... keyboards and producing by Robert Berry - singer and multi-instrumentalist who for once (1988) was a member of ELP instead of Greg Lake! (Listen to "To the Power of Three" by Three i.o. Emerson, Berry and Palmer).

Material of the album is the mix of the songs (you would hear even new arrangement of "The Gallows Pole" - traditional song well-known in Led Zeppelin version - here it is called "Hangman" - lyrics nearly the same; but the music is different) and dynamic instumentals. Tempest plays own rock versions of Scottish, Norge and even Slavic traditional music (A part of the track "Black Eddy" are polkas and though in the booklet is stated that "Sakijarven Polka" is from Finland - don`t beleive it - it is well-known Russian tune - though here in Russia the name of it is different).

According to the Laws of prog-rock:) the last song of the album must be impressive and epical. Sorry... Here we got only long instrumental - I`d like to hear more bright track in the end - that`s why I rated this album with 4 stars.

So for me this album was a pleasant surprise. And if you like Jethro Tull - this album is the special gift for you!



Also try CD by Tempest "Turn of the Wheel" (1996) - with Keith Emerson on keyboards in the first song of the album.



P.S. Need I say that Ian Anderson himself likes Tempest?"