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| Tiger ArmyIII: Ghost Tigers Rise2004 Hellcat 
 Review by: Adam See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on June 29th 2004
III: Ghost Tigers Rise isn't the album I was expecting, but it is the album I was hoping for. For a band with a penchant for aggressive songs and macabre imagery, the fact that your drummer's been shot four times and has a bullet permanently lodged in his brain should (understandably) fuel some angered, raging tunes. Yet surprisingly this is most melodic, most intricate, and as it turns out most subtle record in Tiger Army's career. Maybe it's that Fred Hell's plight forced more introspection than anger, or maybe it's just that Nick 13's songwriting has reached that higher plateau he's always hinted towards, but this is the most musically accomplished and consistently enjoyable outing from the three piece yet. It's always seemed that Tiger Army was stronger when leaning harder on their rockabilly roots than their punk side. At the end of the day material like "Power Of Moonlight," "In The Orchard" or "Cupid's Victim" always felt more complete and fully realized than the band's more traditional Misfits-fuelled rockers like "F.T.W" or "When Night Comes Down." III: Ghost Tigers Rise smartly builds up the style of the former songs, bringing the rockabilly and country influences to a new place of prominence and integrating a moody Smiths-like 80s pop feel on a number of tracks. The standouts seems to be the slower tempo tracks, like "Rose of the Devil's Garden" or the beautiful pedal steel guitar backed "The Long Road." Nick 13's vocals soar in these songs with more confidence and range than he's ever shown. The band's rocking moments seem to fit better as well. Take the opening "Ghost Tigers Rise," a thrilling instrumental track that's shows the band raging out the gate with a showboating Reverend Horton Heat style vigour. The most striking thing is how good the band sounds in the song, particularly bassist Geoff Kresge. His playing here is worlds better than on II: Power Of Moonlight. He's admitted during interviews that he's learned much in both playing and recording the stand-up bass since then, and it shows on tunes like "Through The Darkness." Most noticeable is how percussive his playing is this time around, sounding closer to the style Quakes' bassist Rob Peltier employed on the first Tiger Army record. Fred Hell was still in recovery at the time when this was recorded, so drum tech Mike Fasano plays on the album. To his credit he's closely emulating Hell's own style and seamlessly meshes with 13 and Kresge. III: Ghost Tigers Rise might disappoint those looking for a more rowdy and aggressive record, however considering the quality of the results the choice to take a more subtle approach was the best move Tiger Army could have made. Tiger Army's niche within the psychobilly movement has been that they're more in tune with roots Americana and less obsessed with shlocky horror than their peers. III: Ghost Tigers Rise captures that sound and vision better than anything Tiger Army has released prior.  Tiger Army - GhostfireTiger Army e-card People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
definitely their best album so far Woops, 2 stars?! sorry guys....see this group live!! I seen these guys last week and it comes highly recomended that if you get a chance to do so, you should, they put on an incredible live show. As for the album, i must say i prefer the older more phsyco-punk stuff but Nick's singing voice has certainly improved on this outing, and there's more country songs, which the army do oh so well. T.A.N.D TIGER... fuck the dude below me! tiger army is the shit and this cd is the shit, more melodic , but great!!! lolz tiger army r shit!!!!!!111111111111 Admittedly not quite the album I was expecting..but wow,certainly the album i can't get off my stereo right now! In my humble opinion,their psycho fanbase'll probably love this more than than those who've recently discovered them through bands like AFI,but I think this album holds some of the best songs they've written to date,'Wander Alone' & 'Rose Of The Devil's Garden' being just a couple...& Nick's voice is sounding more impressive than ever! i'm not a fan of tiger army but this third album is great If you think AFI are moving downhill, then clearly your some weird freaky hardcore fan. Which means quite frankly your opinions mean jack. I love this band but i am giving the score a 1 just because I can Tiger Army follows AFI down the hill... "And so it's come to be epitaph liked this review - http://www.epitaph.com/news/article.php?id=1429 Even though this cd has slowed down the pace quite a bit, I think it's still a DAMN FINE effort. I really like this cd, but I think that since its way different than their other records, it's going to get mixed reviews. I'm just glad they are still around after what happened with Fred Hell. TIGER ARMY NEVER DIE!!!!! They slowed it down a little but they still kick so much ass. Cant wait to see them at warped. TxAxNxDx i thought London May joined this band...? Right, all I'm saying is that AFI's progression is linear, while you can't really say there's a linear progress with TA because their sound changed from album to album instead of "advancing along a path" Best TA album yet. Get it and enjoy some wonderful psychobilly. To the kid below, sux for you. THIS ALBUM KICKS ASS! The first two albums by Tiger Army were nothing short of spectacular, but I'm sorry I am just not digging this album. "The guy below me on that post is spewing everywhere." My bad chrisafi - thanks for the support. Nah nah Cdog - I was backing you up dude "I'm a bit underwhelmed, but I'll give it time." I feel that Bay Area MC's, and African-American's in general, were misrepresented, when assessing the sounds of AFI and Tiger Army... El Vaquero/Cowboy - I guess I think the rockabilly of s/t sounds harder than the music of III; not HARDCORE, but harder music. As for the Silver and Cold video...you got me. I really wish they would go back to their "Black Sails" era imagery. Far and away the bands best work, the song writing is great, geoff's bass sounds the best it ever has. No filler, easily worth the wait-oldpunker- AFI is shit. Your full of shit the dude who compared afi and TA's careers forgot to mention tiger army's hardcore records. That said, I haven't had this good a debate on this website since I switched my musical focus to Japan. Alright, the assuming backlash is well deserved, but hell, would arguing on the internet be any fun without all the biting comments? I'm a bit underwhelmed, but I'll give it time. Good review. I like this album a lot. True that's a little more laid back, but it's one of the most honest heartfelt music I heard in a while. My friend (who's a big metal/hard rock fan) is randomly a HUGE Tiger Army fan. I have to say I never heard them until a few days ago when I went bowling. I wasn't too impressed until I head "In The Orchard." I was like, "Man, this band should just do alt-country/rockabillyish shit." Yeah, I figured that was the case...haven't read much of the vertical writing... I didn't know how this was going to work out for TA, but I really like this album. It's mellow, but very dark...and Nick seems to write very honest lyrics, and doesn't just stick with horror for shlock (ex, Nekromantix [they're still very good, however]). Definately one of the best of the year. El Vaquero, Good to see this band is finally making honest music. I hate the whole overplayed horror movie thing when anyone besides the Misfits, the Undead, the Damned, or the Cramps do it. cdogg, you are way off base on this one. If you knew their first album, instead of only reading this review, you would know that the first featured not only slower songs (Outlaw Heart) like the ones on this album, but several straight up rockabilly songs (including a cover of the classic Twenty Flight Rock, Neo Bam Boom, and others) and in general had a more rockabilly-influenced direction than they took later on.... In II, where the punk did shine through more than the country or rockabilly, which is what the review refers to as the change in "sound." To see them in a pattern of change similar to AFI is not only ridiculous considering their more twisting maturity, but also insulting considering that SIng The Sorrow is pop trash. Actually, the Japanese read their text from right to left so it actually says "Tiger Army." This score is for the fact that the Japanese says "Army Tiger" Great album. Tiger Army never fails to impress me. i like this album. it's more mellow, they annoyed me a little on the older albums. i find this band to be very mediocre. Great album. Another similiarity that now exists between Tiger Army and AFI (besides the dark imagery and similiar lead vocals) is how they progress from album to album. Both bands started off with a much harder "punkier" sound. As the bands both evolved musically, the harder sound gave way in favor of melody, resulting in - dare I say - more beautiful music (see "Sing the Sorrow"). I hate saying both bands have matured, since I don't think maturity is synonymous with slower music, but these bands have definately grown from album to album. Could DreamWorks be not too far off in Tiger Army's future? This score is for the review. Maybe you can give Kirby and Jesse some pointers? Wow! Again, the cowboy forgets to log in and claims the last post. Again. Adam, you are pretty much my favorite reviewer. For any publication. I really want to go and get this now, since I agree with you completely (Outlaw Heart is genius). I love graduation gift certificates. I agree with the reviewer. This is a much better album from Tiger Army and much more "rounded" and punky. I liked all their albs and this one is also a killer I bought this lp a week before it came out, and it sucks. Power of moonlight was a way better album. this album is realy good. i always liked the slower tiger army songs. great cd Good review, Adam. i loved II.....and i'm pretty stoked for this. cupids victim was my fav. song on the last album. more songs like that and i'm sold A review that starts out with a thesis statement. Adam does it again, best album to come out this year. Songs the Long Road and Atomic kick so much ass |
