ROYAL TUSK
Altruistic
(Hard Rock | Modern Rock)
Label: MNRK Music Group
Format: (LP)
Release: 23.02.2024
With unwavering determination, the band went through ups and downs that brought them to the brink of their career and threatened to destroy their dreams. Despite all these adversities, friendship, solidarity and perseverance prevailed
Alberta, Canada is home to many great rock bands. Above all, NICKELBACK, SNFU, and also ROYAL TUSK. The band from Edmonton already made a name for themselves in 2014 with the EP “Mountain” and with “Altruistic” the trio released their third studio album on February 23rd, 2024. The band produced this album entirely on their own, but in the middle of this process, singer Daniel Carriere found himself in a year-long battle for his health after a blood clot was discovered in his lung. He lost over ten kilos and could hardly speak. You can’t notice any of that vocally on this album, the vocal performance is absolutely top notch. So put on your headphones and turn up the volume.
“Fire In Your Veins”: Bam, Bam – Really fat drums and heavy rhythm guitars hit, and immediately the lead guitar comes in and delivers a hard, rocking main riff. The song is built instrumentally around the riff and that’s where Daniel Carriere’s aggressive vocals start. The voices are of course harmonically doubled so that you get something out of it, and the chorus starts with a short drum roll. Speak of Drum Rolls; You can hear a lot of them in the second verse and they are absolutely great. After the second chorus, Quinn Cyrankiewicz comes on lead guitar and shreds the album’s first solo. And the song ends with the main riff and even more drum roll.
Heavy guitars continue in “Hated”, Sandy MacKinnon’s bass booms in the background, while a pretty clean guitar plays a small arpeggio in the foreground. In the chorus, the vocal harmonies are ramped up completely, creating an absolutely round sound.
In “Relegate” the guitar first hides briefly behind a high/low pass filter before the drums and bass join in and really kick in again and it starts with a slightly disturbing descending riff before everything suddenly becomes quiet. Sample drums, in the background, a clean deal guitar far away and the vocals with a lot of delay, the whole thing is more “middle-far away”. In the pre-chorus the band is fully present again and in their element. And “All My Life”, the single from the album, also starts with lots of effects, and a keyboard accompanies the verse, before all the guns are brought out again in the chorus – very cool breaks in the middle – while the bass is in the background booms. The song ends with a bit of noise and the seamless transition into the next number “The Death of Common Sense” follows. A bludgeoning drum kit and guitar riffs dominate until the vocals begin, slightly filtered. You can already tell that one great song follows the next.
A melodic clean guitar melody awaits us in the album’s namesake “Altruistic”. But don’t worry it doesn’t stay quiet for long, after the first twenty seconds it gets back to business with a hard instrumental interlude before the actual first verse begins and the vocals start. The band probably included the catchiest chorus in this number. After the second chorus it becomes more contemplative again, we go back to the beginning before it goes into the final chorus one last time.
At the end it actually becomes quieter again. In “Something Like The Truth” Daniel Carrier shows a completely different side that we haven’t heard on this album before. The voice is in the foreground and the instruments accompany in the background, even in the chorus.
In general, the focus on this album is the hard and rocking guitar riffs, which are constantly supported by awesome drum rolls and fills. But the performance of the vocals is also spot on from start to finish! Whether it’s the main voice, melody or harmony, the picture is always right. In addition, ROYAL TUSK experiments with a wide variety of effects on this album and mixes them together excellently to create a state-of-the-art rock composition. This author will definitely be happy if Band ends up in Vienna.
Tracklist „Altruistic“:
1. Fire In Your Veins
2. Hated
3. Relegate
4. Head Up
5. All My Life
6. The Death of Common Sense
7. Here On Out
8. Altruistic
9. Breathe
10. Something Like The Truth
Total playing time: 33:21
Band-Links:
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