TNT - A Farewell To Arms (2010)

Norwegian/British hard rockers TNT are back with a new album, "A Farewell To Arms", released in Japan only.
The recording will be titled "Engine" in the US and Scandinavia, due to be published on the new year's eve.
This is their third album with the current lineup, and the band are trying to return to their roots. The music is more hard edged than on the last few albums, and the truth is you'll have to go all the way back to 1984's "Knights Of The New Thunder" to find the band so hard rockin'.

TNT was formed in Norway back in 1982, and the band released its eponymous debut album the following year.
After some changes in the line up the classic "Knights Of The New Thunder" were released in the fall of 1984, by a band now consisting of extremely talented guitar player Ronni Le Tekrø, drummer Diesel Dahl, american singer Tony Harnell, and bass player Morty Black.

Throughout the eighties the band released the melodic hard rock gems "Tell No Tales" and "Intuition", while building a fan base in Europe, America, and especially in Japan where "Intuition" became a hit.
In the early nineties the band broke up, but TNT returned with a couple of more alternative hard rock albums later in the decade, before disappearing again.
At the turn of the millennium TNT slowly began to rise once more, and came back with full force when "My Religion" was released to rave reviews in 2004.
The band then started to fall apart, and as bass players changed at a rapid pace, singer Harnell left the band in 2006 to be replaced by Tony Mills.

Diesel Dahl and Ronni Le Tekrø were by now the core of TNT, and in Victor Borge (ex Jack In The Box, Autopulver) they found a permanent bass player.
When Tony Mills entered the scene TNT was finally a complete unit again, and released 'The New Territory' in 2007. TNT have been touring extensively in Norway ever since, and at the same time been working on new music. This resulted in 'Atlantis'.
Both albums were very disappointing to the fans: erratic, muddy and unfun music.

But on "A Farewell To Arms" TNT tries to deliver a much harder rocking sound with energetic, guitar-shred filled tunes.
They don't completely abandon the eccentricity that can be TNT, but they are much closer to the band's trademark sound.
It still hasn't been an easy road for the group: just as the new album was finished, Mills suffered a heart attack at Oslo's main airport, but quick response from the paramedics saved the singer's life.

"A Farewell To Arms" was produced by Ronni Le Tekrø at his studio, and the songs are mainly written by him and Mills.
I'm still not convinced with the material dropped here, although this recording is 10 thousand times better than the previous releases.
There's a hard 'n' heavy intention on many tracks, which is not a bad thing, with razor riffs and tight arrangements.

But this band has always shined when they combine melody with Ronni's pyrotechnics.
And that's evident on the excellent "Don't Misunderstand Me", with a catchy chorus, harmonies and crazy guitar work.
"Someone Else" and "Ship In The Night" both are good retro TNT-style melodic rockers, while "God Natt, Marie" is a very nice tune, not your typical ballad.
Some of the "hard" tracks work fine as well, like the melting "Take It Like A Man - Woman!" or the title track.

Ronni has followed a clever premise on this new album: short tracks, direct and in-you-face. And that's works.
For the most part, "A Farewell To Arms" is a good return to the best TNT, specially if you're a fan of their very earlier albums.


01 - Engine
02 - Refugee
03 - Ship In The Night
04 - Take It Like A Man - Woman!
05 - Come
06 - Barracuda
07 - A Signature On A Demon's Self Portrait
08 - Don't Misunderstand Me
09 - A Farewell To Arms
10 - Someone Else
11 - God Natt, Marie
12 - Not Only Lonely (Japan Bonus Track)


Tony Mills : Vocals
Ronni Le Tekro : Guitar
Victor Borge : Bass
Morten "Diesel" Dahl : Drums
Dag Stokke : Keyboards
Baard Svensen : Backing Vocals


www.tnttheband.com
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