TNT – A Farewell To Arms

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Norway’s TNT seem set to continue the resurgence they begain in 2004 unabated, with a fifth album in seven years, the third with Tony Mills on vocals since he took over from founder Tony Harnell in 2006. In fact it’s the third in a row with the exact same band line-up, which hasn’t happened too often. The band’s intention was to return to the heavier side of their style from the early/mid 1980s with albums like Knights of The New Thunder being quoted in marketing material for the record, and for the first seven tracks they achieve just that. Opener Engine is very likely the heaviest song of the band’s career with a grooving, chugging riff and hooky chorus that doesn’t end up being too camp. Everything then remains original and interesting through tracks like Take It Like A Man – Woman!, Refugee, Come and Barracuda (not a Heart cover) until the eighth track, Don’t Misunderstand Me, which is so by-the-numbers in its lyrics, melodies and riffs that it could be a tribute song to just about any well-known 1980s AOR act. The title track fits in better with the first seven songs, but after that the last three abandon all of the muscle of the rest of the album and feel entirely out of place. TNT almost achieved what they set out to do, and had they fully realised that idea then A Farewell To Arms would have been a superb melodic rock album. Sadly those four tracks towards the end undo much of the good work achieved by the other eight.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Hard Rock, Quick.Play Reviews, TNT