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Tak
Matsumoto is a well-known guitarist in Japan and he was the leader of
his popular band B’z in the 80’s. TMG is his project where are
participating some very popular artists like Eric Martin on the vocals
and Jack Blades on bass and backing vocals as well. Tak is a lover of
good melodic hard rock music and this is obvious if you listen to this
CD. Although that I was longing to listen to this album I never
thought that it could be so damn good! Things here are very clear from
the very first moment that you push the “play” in you CD-player.
Hard rock music with a modern vibe and of course some 80’s hard rock
references from bands like Mr. Big and Damn Yankees.
This
album is one of the best hard rock albums that I have listened to
lately and only when you listen to it you will totally get my point of
view. Eric sounds just… perfect! This is the right stuff for him,
I’m sure now. He sings with passion and he “travels” us back in
the first days of Mr. Big. This is far the best material that Eric has
sung in a long time. After all this is his physical environment. Jack
Blades also helps a lot not only by playing the bass, but also by
doing very good backing vocals in the album. Of course Tak is
responsible for the great music of the album and I must admit that he
has done a hell of work in the guitars here!
I’m
going to refer only to those songs of the albums that not only blew my
brains out but grab my attention from the very first listening as
well.
The
album opens with the wonderful “Oh Japan - Our Time Is Now” and
after a piano intro… things get right to the point. A rather calm
verse and then we have some really heavy guitars on the bridge and on
the great chorus of the song. Then we go on with the superb hard rock
song “Everything Passes Away”… with the dark intro and a
terrific hard rock riff. Eric sings like a lunatic in this song... and
what a strong melodic chorus! Maybe the best song of the album and one
of the best songs of this year. Things continue to rock with the
straightforward rocker “Kings For A Day”. Again the chorus of this
song is very good. So, we go on with the entertaining hard/rock n’
roll tune “I Wish You Were Here”. A party feeling and an AC/DC
vibe on this song. “The Greatest Show On Earth” is one of the
highlights of this album. Up-tempo rocker with a killer chorus that
will stick on your mind. “Signs Of Life” is a hard rocker built in
a more simple rock forms, but very good as well. The same goes for
“Trapped” and “Wonderland”. Heavy guitars and melodic
choruses. Let’s pass to a more funky hard rock song like my “My
Alibi” which works perfectly among the other songs of the album.
Very interesting song, which changes a little the pace of the album.
The songs “Train, Train” and “Two For A Kind” have a more
bluesy feeling; with the second one being more laid back… both bring
on my mind the other great band from Japan, The Savoy Truffle. The
last song of the album “Never Good-Bye”, rocks the place to the
ground again with a fabulous rocker riff and some great hooklines sung
by Eric. The chorus of the song is just fantastic! It so hard not to
refer to all the songs of the album, cause they are all truly very
good. I must not forget to say that the production of the album is
very heavy but also very clear. Just another plus on this CD.
My
only objection is that the album, -till now-, is only being released
in Japan and no other label from America or Europe has show
interesting in order to release this excellent album outside Japan.
What a shame! I do not know what else to say.
As a
result “TMG 1” is a superb hard rock album that all the fans of
hard rock music must listen to. This is one of the most interesting
works of the last years, so… do not let it go by unnoticed. I just
wish that there were more albums like that on the hard rock genre.
by Thanos Aggelakis 9/10 | 