Tourniquet - Vanishing Lessons (1994)
Welcome new vocalist Luke Easter. Welcome a new more accessible sound. Welcome a new era of Tourniquet. Everyone has their own favorite Tourniquet cd and for quite some time this was mine. The music on "Vanishing Lessons" is still super heavy (not quite as complex and technical though) and the lyrics are still very deep, just in a different way. The guitars on this disc have much more groove and the vocals are not as "extreme" as before. Luke kicks up some major dust though with his own heavy vocal delivery on songs like "Acid Head" and "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" (a track about not blaming your downfalls on others). It does seem that Ted Kirkpatrick and company didn't want us to forget that Ted is still the most technical drummer around today so they also included the ultra-tech instrumental "K517". There is another first for Tourniquet here with the landmark ballad "My Promise". Overall this cd can not be compared to any other band out there and on a good note they seem almost more original than before without having any obvious external influences. -- Review by Norm