Early 2020, in the middle of the world wide pandemic, in the United Kingdom Toothdrinker emerged. A solo project by mastermind Sam, that collaborates with artist to create new music. This eventually led to a full length album, named Last Escape, which has been released on the 17th of November on all streaming devices worldwide!
Last Escape is the full length debut album of Toothdrinker and contains 11 new songs with a total playing time of 52 minutes! Last Escape is a rock opera, inspired by the events of the classic 1999 survival horror video game, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
Listening to the first tunes of this album, I have to admit I am not familiar with the Resident Evil games in the slightest. So I am going to review the album without the knowledge about the game and thus without real knowledge about the inspiration for this album. Having that said, the album opens with the songs Welcome to Racoon City, Valentine’s day and One Horse Town. Real accessible music, good composition and nice clean vocals. Different vocalists give the music a bit more depth and the heavier parts, as well as the guitar solos, add a little bit extra to the music.
The next three songs are Three Goddesses, Bow.Down and An Expression of Concern.Again the vocal skills stand out, and the music compositions is outstanding. Both Three Goddesses and Bow.Down fit in nicely with the previous songs. They are nicely put together, the higher tempo in Bow.Down is a nice change of pace, and it feels like finished songs with a solid idea behind it. An Expression of Concern is a short instrumental piece which feels like an interlude or a prelude to what is to come.
Reach For The Stars, Born To Waste and Digging Your Own Grave are next up. Reach For The Stars has a nice and sensitive build up, and towards the end the song really opens up. Born To Waste and Digging Your Own Grave fit perfectly well with the rest of the album. Music and lyric wise are the songs well thought out, and my lack of knowledge of Resident Evil is not an issue what so ever.
Towards the end of the album the last two songs are up. Under My Skin and It’s In Your Blood are track 10 and 11 of Last Escape and I must admit, this hour has flown past. Under My Skin has a little bit more tempo than the previous songs and the keys in this song are a nice extra touch. Last up is It’s In Your Blood and is a worthy ending for an impressive album. The longest song of the album (a little over 8 minutes) is the “roughest” song on the album. Different vocalists bring something extra to the table once again and the general composition of this album closer is impressive.
Conclusion
After listening to Last Escape I must say I’m impressed. Mastermind and founder Sam delivers a well thought out debut album that raises the bar to a high standard for things to come. The use of different vocalists is a nice touch and both lyrics as music are of a high standard. For people who don’t know Toothdrinker, this album is a simply fantastic way to learn more about what this Cardiff, UK based band is capable of. For fans of Resident Evil this album should be a must! When you listen to the album, some songs and compositions resemble bands from the late 80’s, early 90’ for me. Absolutely not a bad thing, but for new sounds or “out of the ordinary” compositions Toothdrinker is not the band to listen to. If you are looking for accessible and well-made music, Toothdrinker is absolutely worth looking into!
Score 80/100
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If you want to know what Toothdrinker is all about, please click the following playlist!
