Tesla - Simplicity

Published June 04 2014

*=Staff's pick	M P 3* Ricochet Rise And Fall So Divine…* Cross My Heart Honestly* Flip Side! Other Than Me Break Of Dawn Burnout To Fade* Life Is A River Sympathy Time Bomb 'Til That Day

Genre	Hard Rock	Jeff Keith	Vocals
Tracks	14	Frank Hannon	Guitar
Running time	62 Min.	Dave Rude	Guitar
Label	Frontiers Records	Brian Wheat	Bass
Release	06 June 2014	Troy Luccketta	Drums
Country	USA	-	Keyboard
Producer	Tom Zutaut/Tesla
Similar artists	---

Californian veteran rockers Tesla's new effort is pretty much the natural successor to the band's last proper album, 2008's Forever More. Almost six years have passed, but the band shows no signs of putting things to rest. It seems like they are embarking this elegant trip to prove their validity and successfully do so. With a mix of harder rock, stylish emotional ballads, acoustic stuff and bluesy rock 'n' roll songs, it's a varied record which confirms that they are still able to produce killing material in their own vein.

Honestly is one track which I've got to point out specifically since it's so damn awesome. I can't stop listening to this masterpiece of a song. It has an attraction to it that I connect to immediately, even if Jeff Keith's rough, harsh voice has lost bits of its power. He sings with a strong fiery passion though, that makes me bow down in deep admiration. I admit that he never was the most perfected vocalist of rock, but talent doesn't always beat authenticity and singularity.

Simplicity is a strong and fresh release with a few ups and downs and it somehow defines what Tesla has almost always delivered. It's solid rock and arguably still valid at the end of the day. The music is something that sets your emotions free and they constantly find new ways to improve. Fourteen songs might be a few too many and I believe that I would have found even more satisfaction if a couple of them hadn't made it all the way to manufacturing. Not that there are any direct fillers, but an album doesn't get better because of the fact that it reaches the one hour mark. I'm still happy with the outcome nevertheless and fans to this band should definitely check out this effort.

See also review of: Mechanical Resonance LIVE , Forever More , Into The Now

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6	7	7	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tobbe