AtomicCrimsonRush The greatest Tourniquet album in the universe! I have them all but nothing can beat this classic in thrash speed metal excellence. Every track hammers home with a psychotic exuberance effectively signing the death warrant to false metal in the early 90s. Tourniquet play a moody no holds barred brand of speed with breakneck Slayer-esque rhythms and fret melting lead work. The fire and energy is astounding on the title track, that simply drives at a relentless pace until a mid tempo interlude where everything just stops and the bass heavy riff is joined by distorted down tuned doom metal chords. Kirkpatrick’s drumming pummels the silence and we are back on track to the end that is a freight train careening to a stop.

The next track Phantom Limb is a definitive highlight with very odd time sigs and a crunching distorted blast of sonic violence. Ruminating Virulence continues the high powered cliff face of the pulsating metal soundscape. Other highlights are the explosive Gelatinous Tubercles of Purulent Ossification, that is a title worth remembering.

Incommensurate is one of the best Tourniquet tracks with very strong vocals, Guy Ritter is a powerhouse dynamite performer and the band suffered when he left.

Descent Into the Maelstrom is sheer weirdness but works well as a transition leading to En Hakkore and the finale which is brilliant, The Skeezix Dilemma. This mini epic clocking 10 minutes is an indulgence of experimentation, progressive and original. It begins with a creepy carnival sound like some twisted merry go round from a boy’s nightmare. The boy is then heard speaking words in fear, “Silly childhood game, Uncle Wiggily, I cower in abject horror Approaching space number 109, Home of the gaunt and haggard shell of the Skeezix”. I don’t want to go into what the song is about but it is about a real child’s boardgame that is quite disturbing, akin to child abuse in fact, so it is a track for the faint of heart. The lyrics even profess, “When Mr. Skeezix becomes Mr. Jones, Or you, or me Just think of what it does to wreck A child of two or three, They know and feel much more than We will give them credit for, And all they want in life from you Is love and nothing more, When painful eyes begin to cringe, When you walk through the door.” The song has many time changes and awesome riffs, and the band returned to this theme of Skeezix on other albums.

As usual the lyrics are based on some Biblical or Christian theme as the band are professed Christians but don’t let this fact overcome your interest in the group. They are still a powerful thrash band in any context and this is as about as good as it gets for them.

AtomicCrimsonRush The intro album for Christian thrash metal from Tourniquet is certainly raw and wild and features some signature tracks of the band. The Test for Leprosy is a killer track with speed metal blastbeats and massive distortion.

The screaming raspy vocals of Ritter are fairly good but are rather shrilly in places especially the abysmal Ready or Not which is mercifully short.

The best track on the album and in fact the most famous for the band is undoubtedly Ark of Suffering that had an amazing controversial video clip that was anti animal cruelty and showed images of cruelty and sadism towards animals. The music is incredible with very hyped lead breaks, speed picking and manic hammering, and the structure is almost progressive in places.

The rest of the album is satisfactory, Tears of Korah, You Get What You Pray For and Whitewashed Tomb are great examples. It is early Tourniquet and a great taster of better to come.

Pelata Since Tourniquet's 1990 Intense Records debut 'Stop The Bleeding' the band has striven to do anything and everything within their chosen genre except make the same album twice. In a nutshell, the band plays melodic, technical thrash. But if you really got into the nuts and bolts of the band's sound, you'd be hard pressed to find a nutshell big enough for all of the influences Tourniquet pours liberally into their music.

'Stop The Bleeding' found the band utilizing 2 vocalists (1 clean and 1 shouting) and forging a sound somewhere between King Diamond (the band) and Slayer. 'Psycho Surgery' (1992) found them using the dual-vocalist approach even more as well as being one of the first bands (behind Anthrax) to incorporate rap into thrash. 'Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance' (1992) saw Tourniquet expand to 4 vocalists (everyone but the drummer singing/shouting) while creating their most diverse, expansive album to date blending death metal, thrash, traditional metal and classical arrangements into one gigantic technical metal onslaught. Since then, the band has gone through numerous line-up changes (gaining current vocalist Luke Easter in 1994 and, most recently, losing guitarist Aaron Guerra last year), and have been without a permanent bassist until this current album. Over the years Tourniquet has released a multitude of albums, all exploring something new while retaining a sound that is unique and identifiable.

The main reason for that consistency being founding member/drummer/guitarist/sometimes bassist Ted Kirkpatrick. This man simply has too much talent for his own good. Handling writing and guitar duties to varying degrees on every Tourniquet release, not to mention his amazing skills as a drummer, he is the glue that holds this band and this sound together. Some of the material he has released under the Tourniquet moniker has been better received than others. However, let me be the first to say that this new album 'Where Moth And Rust Destroy' has to be their most complete and awe inspiring album since 1992's 'Pathogenic'. It incorporates everything Tourniquet has used in the past (minus the rap) and melded it all into one blistering 60-minute sonic experience! I hate to directly quote a band bio in my review, but "Beethoven meets Frankenstein" pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Thrash, classical, prog, super-tight riffing, superb technical prowess, and one of the widest arrays of vocal styles to come out of one man (this is only the second album release by Tourniquet to only utilize one vocalist) I have ever heard. Not to mention the searing lead work of guest players Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) and Bruce Franklin (Trouble) and the excellent violin work of Dave Bullock.

There is so much music on this album that I have had a really hard time knowing where to start reviewing it (hence the preceding history lesson), so lets just start with my personal favorite song. "Drawn And Quartered" begins with a masterful violin / guitar theme harmony set to a driving drum groove. At about the 2-minute mark in this 8+ minute track, the band takes off into neck-snapping Thrashville calling to mind the bands early material. The tempo changes and mood swings that incur afterwards are yet another testament to the band's abundance of talent. The nearly 10 minute "Healing Waters Of The Tigris" is another jaw-dropper. After the nearly 2 minute Middle Eastern flair of the acoustic intro, we get a melodic progressive thrash fest! The opening riff and overlaid guitar harmonies are dark and wonderful. Easter's quiet voicing over the staggered riffing is a great example of the band's dichotomy of sounds. The chorus is one of the albums most melodic. The lead work on this song, and all over the album, is absolutely top notch. Some of the best lead work on any Tourniquet album (Oh yeah, I forgot that was Marty Friedman...I should have expected no less).

Other stellar moments include "Melting The Golden Calf", the 7+ minute doom instrumental "In Death We Rise" (with its mournful violin work) and "A Ghost At The Wheel". There is a lot to take in on this record, so spin it a few times before forming a final opinion. 'Where Moth And Rust Destroy' surpasses the band's ripping 2000 release 'Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm' and is undoubtedly one of the best metal albums released in 2003.

thewhippingpost I was much more impressed with this album than their first. Not as much of the high-pitched vocals and they seemed to have found their sound here. The music and lyrics get even more complex. Lyrically, on this album and practically all their albums, you might need a Bible, cross-reference, dictionary, set of encyclopedias, etc. to understand what they're getting at...addressing spiritual issues with medical descriptions, singing against "new age" thinking, and covering difficult topics . The songs are original and absolutely amazing. There's even some rap (by P.I.D. ...no, not P.O.D.) on the tune "Spineless" and this was released back before there was even such a thing known as rapcore. This album still remains one of my favorites from Tourniquet.

Ten years after this album was first issued, Psycho Surgery was re-issued and the title became one word Psychosurgery. Not only was their a slight name change, but this album was also re-mastered and includes 5 bonus tracks. While an original release of this album may be considered a collectable or rare CD, the re-issue is totally worth having. The re-mastered sound quality is top-notch. The bonus tracks include 2 live songs (A Dog's Breakfast & Broken Chromosomes), 2 demo songs (Stereotaxic Atrocities & A Dog's Breakfast) and the concert intro for 2000.

Whether you get an original or a re-issue, you'll see that this is some of the best early Tourniquet material. But add up the re-mastered sound, bonus tracks, new liner notes and different pictures and you'll see why I recommend the re-issue. Best songs: "Psycho Surgery," "A Dog's Breakfast," "Spineless" and "Broken Chromosomes."