Tiger Army

III: Ghost Tigers Rise (Hellcat)
by Eric Chon

The underworld’s favorite psychobilly band is back. Tiger Army‘s III: Ghost Tigers Rise contains 13 tracks of the angriest, loveliest, most hauntingly beautiful tracks that could grace your ears. Combining all the best aspects of rockabilly-twang, punk-aggression, and a certain sideshow creepiness, III… is Tiger Army at their best. Nick 13’s vocal melodies float and crash while both Geoff Kresge’s bass and Fred Hell’s rhythm keeps it all rooted six feet under.

On III…, Tiger Army is able to keep the melodies sweet without being saccharine and the rage visceral without falling into screamo fits. This time around, however, the effect is more subtle: Like it was that hard to notice before. But the Tigers are truly maturing and finding their place. And with a stripped-down production, all you ever get is the meat. There’s no filler here, no audio tricks to supplant lack of talent. This is the real deal.

My only complaint is that the tempo remains pretty constant throughout the album, but considering Fred Hell survived four gunshot wounds during a home invasion prior to recording, we’ll let it slide. Overcoming adversity and creating a masterpiece should be just par for the course for these guys anyway. Somewhere in Hell, our lord Undead Elvis is blasting III: Ghost Tigers Rise, and if that isn’t the only endorsement Tiger Army ever needed, I don’t know what is.
(www.hell-cat.com)