The Wiz: Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility (2021)
What connects a genius with an outrageous creative output, a Native American axe and a cruise missile 🚀? "Tomahawk" - "Tonic Immobility" (2021).
A tomahawk was originally an axe used by Indigenous peoples in North America. Centuries later, in the same part of the world, the U.S. military gave the name to a deadly cruise missile.
Those missiles became widely known during the 1991 Gulf War, when hundreds were launched from the Persian Gulf toward enemy targets.
Around two months ago, another missile launch was announced. On March 26, 2021, it hit its target! 🎯
Ever since its sonic shock waves struck, I haven't wanted to remove a single fragment of this bomb from my system!
Eight years after their previous album, amid a weekend overflowing with excellent new music, the supergroup "Tomahawk" unleashed a new album on the world 🔊!
Another magnificent outfit fronted by the genius and seemingly inexhaustible fountain of creative energy known as Mike Patton!
Alongside the announced return of "Faith No More" to the stage, since postponed because of the pandemic 😷, and the recent resurrection of one of his earliest bands, "Mr. Bungle", with a brilliant rerecording of their first demo, Patton is also the voice of this particular missile.
His Royal Pattonness 👑 has some impressive company in this supergroup, and echoes of their respective musical worlds run throughout the album.
His "Mr. Bungle" bandmate Trevor Dunn on bass, Duane Denison of "The Jesus Lizard" on guitar, and drummer John Stanier of "Helmet" and "Battles".
The entire album is a roller coaster, a dream 😋 for adventurous distortion enthusiasts and a particular treat for Patton fans.
Everything is incredibly tight, driven by aggressive bass and drums 👊. The blend includes hard rock, slow-burning grunge in "Doomsday Fatigue", noise, prog, experimental music and shoegaze guitar walls in "Sidewinder". Several of these ingredients often collide within the same song.
It all fits Patton's characteristic shifts of rhythm and intensity like a glove: whispers in "SHHH!", a storyteller's voice and explosive screams in "Tattoo Zero", relatively funky reggae flavors opening "Recoil", or simply a casual visit to one of his approximately 5,000 octaves!
One of the best and most varied examples is the latest video, released alongside the album:
The lyrics are as fresh and varied as ever. Alongside humor, alcohol and tattoos in "Tattoo Zero", there are pandemic references 😷, including a "covid smile" in "Doomsday Fatigue", and jabs at capitalist lifestyles in "Business Casual", with its low carbs, gluten-free living and bad cholesterol.
I am not usually one for year-end lists. But after spending the weekend wearing this album out, I find it hard to imagine that the 2021 "Tomahawk" missile, "Tonic Immobility", would not feature prominently ⭐ on mine. As Patton puts it in the closing seconds of this explosive record, sounding calm and utterly confident:
"We're Tomahawk 🚀 and we approve this message!"
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