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All The Way To The Sun (2005)
 Personnel: Harnell (vox), Le Tekro
(guit), Dahl (drums), [Ringsby (bass)]
This album
marks a 'first' and a 'last': The first album since 1982 without Morty
Black and the last to feature the vocal talents of Tony Harnell. This
is also the first time TNT has published records in consecutive
years, and in fact All The Way To The Sun sounds a bit rushed. The
title track, Driving, Ready To Fly and The Letter are highlights. They
also cover Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World'. I was really
looking forward to hearing how they'd interpret it, but unfortunately
it's just awful. Frankly it's unlistenable. 'Ordinary Lover' off of
Intuition still ranks as their all time worst song, but this is solidly
in second place.
2004's My Religion pretty much set the bar for 'classic TNT' and this
album follows in it's path. Other than it's not-so-Wonderful cover,
there isn't a great amount of experimentation here. What you get is
what you usually have gotten from TNT (typically good pop metal), I get the same feeling from it as
from Realized Fantasies; so it gets the same rating. It's solidly recommended.
Overall
Rating: 7/10
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My
Religon (2004)
Personnel: Harnell (vox), Le Tekro
(guit), Black (bass), Dahl (drums), [Stokke
(keys)]
The old logo is back, as is the
old drummer! Diesel Dahl is back in the fold. The music? Classic 80s Pop
Metal, TNT style, filtered through the wisdom of the intervening years. An
excellent effort which lacks some of the experimentation of the last two
releases, but it is a fine representation of what TNT does best.
Overall
Rating:
7.7/10
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Transistor (1999)
Personnel: Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), [Lamoy
(formerly Hansen) (drums), Stokke
(keys)]
Producer: Ken Ingwersen
A new logo, and a new/old sound.
Transistor accomplishes what Firefly set out to do; mix the classic TNT
sound with something a bit more current that 1985. And you know what? It
works. This is a very good album. Mousetrap, No Such Thing, Into Pieces
and Wide Awake exlempify the sound of this one. Under My Pillow does not;
it's a ballad, and a duet to top it off. The other party is Ronni's
cousin. Very uusual for TNT, but they pull it off. A little more
experimentation like this would've sparked the score up a little, but it
rates pretty highly as it is. Overall Rating:
8/10
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Firefly & Live (1997)
Personnel:
Studio:Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), [Hansen
(drums), Stokke (keys)]
Live: Harnell (vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black
(bass), Macaluso (drums)
Producer: TNT (Except Soldier
of the Light: Bob Icon)
Firefly and Live comes across as a
bit of a mish-mash in more than one way. The first 8 songs are studio
recordings, the last 5 are live; taken from 1992's Realized Fantasies
tour.
The studio efforts are a mixed bag,
from the heaviness of Somebody Told You to the Alice In Chains style
Firefly to the appropriately trippy Tripping. It seems as if the band
isn't sure where to go; to become (gasp!)
"alternative", keep on chugging as TNT, or mellow out. Interestingly, the
songs that make the best impression on this effort are the slower ones:
Tripping, Month of Sundays and Daisy Jane. Tony Harnell puts in a fine
vocal performance on those tracks. Overall the studio tracks are very
experimental, a fact that didn't sit well with many fans of the band who
became concerned at the direction they were taking.
The live tracks are less interesting,
particularly the self-indulgent Guitar Solo, which is...a guitar solo! The
other tracks are fine, but I would have rather had the missing Firefly
songs that got dumped in favor of these for the U.S. release. Overall Rating: 6/10
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Realized Fanatasies (1992)
Personnel: Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), Macaluso
(drums) [Stokke, Tancredi, Kopetic, Wood
(keys)]
Producer: Ric
Wake
This is a very good disc overall.
Lionheart, Rain, and Indian Summer rank up with the best the band has come
up with. Tony's voice is a little rougher on this one. Personally I found
little surprising in this disc; it's what I expected to hear from TNT. If
you like earlier TNT, you'll like RF. Overall Rating: 7/10
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Intuition (1989)
Personnel: Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), Odiin
(drums), [Bjerkestrand, Stokke (keys)]
Producer: Bjorn
Nessjoe
Intuition should've broken the band,
but troubles at Polygram resulted in less of a push than it deserved.
Likely the bands most popular effort, Intuition contains some great
tracks: Caught Between the Tigers, Tonight I'm Falling, Intuition, Learn
to Love. It also contains the single worst track TNT ever recorded:
Ordinary Lover with Ronni "singing" on it. Instant skip material. The CD
features the best artwork on a TNT release. Overall Rating: 8/10
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Tell No Tales (1987)
Personnel: Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), Dahl
(drums), Svendsen (keys)
Producer: Bjorn
Nessjoe
TNT---Tell No Tales--- Get it? This
album simply rocks from beginning to end, it's all a highlight except
maybe Child's Play, but even that is hardly a filler tune. In my opinion
this is easily the bands' best album; the growth achieved here over the
previous album is simply outstanding. If your going to buy one TNT disc;
this should be it. Overall Rating:
9.5/10
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Knights of the New Thunder
(1984)
Personnel: Harnell
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Black (bass), Dahl
(drums), Svendsen (keys)
Producer: Bjorn
Nessjoe
The U.S. debut and the first with
American Tony Harnell. Knights is a very spotty record; Seven Seas, Tor
with the Hammer, Knights of the Thunder and Eddie are very good tracks.
The rest of it, to be honest, is not very good. Silly lyrics, repetitive
choruses, and just plain corny concepts mar the seven other tracks. No
matter how good the good ones are, when you have more filler than quality
material, it hurts your score: Overall Rating: 4/10
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TNT(1982)
Personnel: Ingebrigtsen
(vox), Le Tekro (guit), Eikum (bass), Dahl
(drums)
Producer:
Unknown
I do not have and have never heard
this album. If anyone has and cares to submit a review, please do :)
Overall Rating: N/A
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