[usr 5.0 text=”true”]
REVIEW – Prong to me was a band that should have been huge. Beg to Differ was that album that on first listen you knew that you were listening to something completely different. Then came the video for Unconditional and the follow up record Prove You Wrong. This was going to be the record everyone thought that would put them not only on the map, but taking over the map. Then, we had an EP that I feel was a showcase called Whose Fist is This Anyway that showed Prong was capable of moving mountains in music if needed. The problems started to show when Cleansing came out, again people outside of the underground ignored them and another record came and gone. Lead singer Tommy Victor was not a happy person, you could see that in interviews and also when you saw them play live. The frustrations produced another masterpiece though with Rude Awakening. In the late part of the 90’s, Prong seemed to crash and burn. Tommy Victor I feel always felt he had more to say with Prong, and in 2003 we got the comeback record Scorpio Rising. Scorpio Rising to me was a fail, it was so all over the place and did not have any of the power or magic of early Prong recordings.
Tommy Victor thru many lineup changes has kept Prong going for 30 years. I have to be honest, Carved Into Stone of all the records that Prong have released since the comeback has been their best. The Covers record we got last year I felt was another failed opportunity and this new record I am not completely on board with.
I have to say the first song Ultimate Authority just comes out of the gates rocking and crushing. Sense of Ease has some very good elements to it and is better than what they been giving us in the past. The guitar work on the track is sick, and Tommy is trying to showcase that he still has a great vocal delivery. The issue I have with this song is the catchy chorus just does not fit in this song. I do love the heavy elements of this song. No Absolutes tries to carry the flag of the Cleansing era and it just sounds so dated.
The rest of this record is trying so hard to be catchy pop metal at times and at others it is slowing down to try and make Tommy seem like a vocalist who can work on softer melodies which is a fail. Tommy is a metal singer, and when he goes outside of that element to do slower songs or even nu metal raps in songs like Controller his results have been very poor to mediocre. As much as I love old school Prong, this is now what 6 records since the comeback and not one has even remotely come close to being a true Prong record. This would be like if Judas Priest was doing country music or rap. This is not Prong, and it does not fit the mentality of Victor. I feel at this point they are just recording and releasing anything and stamping Prong on it. Another let down by a band that at one time should have taken over the metal community.
PRONG is:
Tommy Victor: Vocals, Guitars
Jason Christopher: Bass, Backing Vocals
Art Cruz: Drums
For more information about PRONG, please visit:
Official Website: www.ProngMusic.com
Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/prongmusic
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/prongmusic
