Customer Reviews

Mind Control

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There aren't many current, mainstream rock groups that retain the same post-grunge characteristics as efforts from the late '90s and early 2000s, but this latest version of Tantric attempts to keep the genre alive on Mind Control, the second album with the re-tooled band of frontman Hugo Ferreira (minus the services of ex-Fuel drummer Kevin Miller).

A different album altogether than The End Begins, there isn't quite the variety song-wise (many of these tracks sounds similar to each other), but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on if you like the basic format of these tunes (think late '90s post-grunge). Hugo's voice could be considered an acquired taste, and his performance and tone are more on the rough-around-the-edges side as opposed to the smoother vocals displayed on The End Begins. Most of the songs do have melodic, somewhat hooky choruses...otherwise, this is pretty much straightforward rock without a lot of embellishments. "Fall To The Ground" and "What Are You Waiting For" are good examples of songs with pop rock-type choruses (however, one song, "Coming Undone", has more of a harder, screaming chorus).

Former Creed member Brett Hestla produced the record, and the production quality is a highlight here...great guitar sounds, fantastic drums...it all sounds super. New drummer Richie Monica does a more-than-average job of replacing Miller.

Overall, this album may not win any awards in the originality department, but if you're a fan of post-grunge rock the old Tantric way, this album may suit you well. For me, the best song on the album is "The Past Is The Past", and while it's not a hard rock song, it's well-written and shows a good deal of passion. And the verse of "Let's Start", with a great rock groove and delayed guitars, is one of the album's highlights from a musical standpoint. Grade: B-

I love band "Days of the new" and really liked Tantrics 1st self tittled album.
The second album "after we go" was pretty good. The third "The end begins" surprised me with a violinist. I actually liked the changed sound unlike most fans and reviews. This 4th album "Mind control "is lacking something and I just am not into it. One or two songs are ok, but even those are not as good as any song on previous albums.
Member changes are making this band suffer a slow death. Album sales went from
1 milllion to 200,000 to 70,000 on the decline. Not sure how well this album sales are doing as the info is unavailable. I like what lead singer Hugo is trying to do here by sticking it out through all the problems/member changes, but I can only hope the next album is an improvement. Hey very few bands can generate great album after album. I hope this is just a slip up and Tantric gets back on track if and when they produce album #5. I have not given up on them and do look forward to what comes next.

This is my first Tantric CD, and I bought it today, so I'm listening to it as I write. So this will be first impressions about them as a band and this CD in particular, and not so much in relation to their other work.

First, the songs are SHORT! The longest is 3:24, and most are almost exactly 3:00 long. On a 12 track CD (with an interlude of one minute for one of those tracks) it makes for a mighty short CD. I generally prefer longer songs, but I've found myself really enjoying the pacing of this album.

As to the music, let's talk for a second about post-grunge. Generally what you get are some dirty guitars and some scratchy or throaty vocals and call it good. It's the trap that a thousand Pearl Jam and Sound Garden clones have fallen into.

Tantric avoids this by providing a lot of variety, while still maintaining a cohesive theme for the whole album. Basically they have some acoustic guitars (strumming and some pretty intricate picking that is awesome), some dirty electric guitars (lots of power chords, not many solos), some strings spread liberally throughout the album which, thankfully, act as a garnish and not a novelty item, and some pretty great vocals, with great harmonies and strong, growly choruses. Take those ingredients, mix them up, and start making songs out of them.

So if you like the post grunge rock with some variety, I say go for it. They remind me a lot of Shinedown (one of my favorite bands) and there's the constant comparison to Alice and Chains (because of the vocals), but Tantric does a great job of, if not making something epic and life-changing, making something different and entirely enjoyable to listen to. Definitely worse ways you could spend your money.

Only the self titled track was good but from there on out it was a skip skip skip.The End Begins was by far a better album than this one,I hardly heard the violin like in their last album and the solos in this one lacked fortitude.Joe Pessia is a good guitarist an here he was nowhere to be heard only in a few songs that weren't even listenable to how horrible they were.Maybe if Hestla hadn't produced this album it might have come out better,but it didn't unfortunately.

I fell in love with Tantric when I heard "Breakdown", "Mourning", "Astounded", etc. I loved both follow-up discs, After We Go and The End Begins. But I am disappointed with Mind Control though. The lyrics on this disc seem like they were written on a napkin at waffle house in about 10 minutes flat. And that whole nu-metal rapping in the chorus of "Kick Back" reminds me of Linkin Park or something...NOT why I fell in love with Tantric. Bring back Toby Wright as the producer. He brought out the best in Tantric. This CD isn't terrible, but it's not the Tantric I love.

The Lance review is pretty lame. Real fans of Tantric know their music and the progressions that it has made since their self-titled debut. Mind Control is a link in the Tantric musical chain that is pretty heavy, melodic, all around rock. Stop the labeling, Post Grunge? What? This dude keeps dropping that stupid, cliched label on a band that has been making solid rock for years. He seems (from reading his review) to know nothing of Tantric before The End Begins. I'm a huge fan of Hugo and (both) lineup versions of the band and this is a rock solid slab of ROCK. Not post grunge, grunge, pre grunge, latter-day grunge, or any other lame-brained labeling. I'm listening to Mind Control for only the 3rd time since buying it and that's already 2 more listens than I gave to The End Begins. I just thought that T E B was just to mellow, but this is the real Tantric. We're all entitled to our opinions though.

I absolutely cannot wait for Tantric's new album. Last year's The End Begins" was a real treat, I really enjoy their style of rock music and the violin was a good touch. I bought this song Mind Control to tied me over for the next month and a half. I rarely look forward to new albums as much as I do this one, the other most anticipated for me is AFI's next release.

Updated with actual review:

I was never a big fan of their second album "After We Go" and although I thoroughly liked last year's "The End Begins," I found the overall theme of those batch of songs to be tinged with hints of depressiveness. Besides Down & Out, those songs were certainly not upbeat. That has changed with "Mind Control," most if not all of these songs have a positive attitude about them, which I prefer.

"Walk Away" and "What Are You Waiting For" sound the most similar to "End Begins" but with a non-negative perspective. "Run Out" sounds like it was plucked from their 2001 archives and it's my favorite on the record. "Fall To The Ground" is another awesome track.

I've listened to this album more than 15 times straight through already, and plan to bask in its glow for the next two weeks. The tunes are short and straightforward but still very fun. I don't see how you could be in a bad mood listening to this.

The first 2 Tantric cds were the best and they will never top those two.The End Begins and Mind Control are just not up to par.When bands start changing all the members in and out alot it's pretty much gonna be over for the band not too long after that.I wouldnt look for tantric to make many more cds if any..Wait and see if i'm right.