T2 — It'll All Work Out In Boomland (review)

T2 — It'll All Work Out In Boomland album cover

Album · 1970 · Heavy Psych

3/5 · 2011-07-19
Certif1ed

Off-the-wall hard rock/heavy psych/partly proto metal album with that unmistakable late 1960s power trio sound, furnished with cleaner lines that belie the time of release and give the album a more timeless quality than many of that era.

The range of influences is quite diverse here, but the angular and spiky-edged riff progressions seem to come from King Crimson and Gary Moore's Skid Row, with lashings of Cream and the Hendrix-inspired explosion of the time. There's also a strong vein of Floyd running through, which comes as no surprise in an album from that time that is now labelled "Progressive".

"Progressive" does not mean "Pink Floyd-like" to me, but there seems to be a surprisingly large number to whom that is the definition.

There's also a tendency to drift slightly into 1960s psychedelic nonsense (again, I blame Floyd), but this is all contained in a taut and dramatic structure that teeters on the edge at times, but otherwise maintains an almost frantic momentum with some impeccable lead runs, sparkling feedback and, regrettably, a little mindless noodle here and there from guitarist Kevin Cross.

There are times when the music feels like it's just backpedalling, filling out the moments with sound rather than pushing the musical ideas forward, but this is countered by other times when the music takes off into muscular riffs.

There's quite a mix of music on this album, much of it non-radio friendly - small wonder that it's quite acceptable to describe it as a progressive rock album, despite the minimal Prog quotient.

A Pink Floyd vibe runs quite strongly through everything, I might have mentioned this, but it's is no mere clone, and mostly that vibe simply extends to the overriding dark melancholy that veers pleasingly away from the cheesey and obvious, although sometimes it pushes towards the over-egged and ludicrous.

There's also a jazzy quality to the overall sound (but not the style) in the choice of chords used in the progressions, which evokes the sound of early Camel.

The 8 and a half minute epic "No More White Horses" is probably most of interest to metal historians, with strong allusions to Black Sabbath and Wishbone Ash. It features fast, metallic flurries screaming above the dark and fullsome riffs.

It does tend to slip back to that Pink Floyd style all too often, and the brass section is horribly intrusive, but that rhythm guitar tone is sumptuously hi-gain when it's unleashed, and the soloing, while pentatonic based, is not that all-too-familiar psychedelic wailing (which does appear on the album later, sadly).

The dark and doomy "Questions and Answers" is another highlight, while the "Purple Haz"e inspired CD reminds me of early Blue Oyster Cult, with a screaming, angular solo that's a real head-bang fest. The jazzy solo is an off-the-wall treat for a while, until the Hendrix citations spoil things a little. There is some impressive fast playing among the bluff, but altogether, a bit on the unlistenable side.

Rounding off the album is a reprise of the opener featuring more improv and that strident guitar tone. This has the tendency to descend into chaos of a most delicious nature, but some of the initial control seems a little lost despite the tight structure.

This is a good album to hear from this time, and is a great example of what a power trio could be capable of. Well worth a spin or two, but not one that you'll keep returning to for your dose of metal madness - there's not enough here to maintain the interest beyond a few listens. Keith Cross's somewhat limited vocabulary is probably the main culprit on this guitar-dominated hard rock blast.