Search - Tribe of Judah :: Exit Elvis

Great album

10/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All of Gary Cherone's intelligent songwriting skills come into play on this debut cd from the Boston based band, Tribe Of Judah. Gary Cherone has made some fabulous, lyrically intelligent music with Extreme (III Sides To Every Story, Pornograffitti, Waiting For The Punchline). Here on "Exit Elvis", he knits the songs philosophically together, and without getting to complicated here, my impression is that the album has many underlying themes. Draw what you will from them all. All of the songs featured are fantastic. Left For Dead, is an all out great rocker, which has a message about the relationship between man & god. No One, is a great catchy rocker, with excellent musicianship, love the way Gary sings the chorus to, he really shines on this track. East Of Paradise, has a great feel to it, great song. Thanks For Nothing, sounds like Godsmack & Extreme, which makes for a great rocker. Celibate, sounds like Nine Inch Nails & Soundgarden, even maybe Extreme at times, very catchy, industrial sounding song. Ambiguous Headdress, sounds like Coldplay meets Enigma, different but good in an exotic kind of way and Gary's vocal work is excellent. Lot's of techno polish to be found on this track. In My Dreams, is a great NIN like rocker, but sounds completely original. 2+2, is a downer because there is no music, just a little girl reciting a poem that Gary wrote. Suspension Of Disbelief, is stunning and is another all out industrial like rocker. My Utopia, is by far hands down the best song on the cd. Very catchy, very alive, very good song with mind blowing lyrics. Exit Elvis, is an odd work of art, where Cherone's theatrical ability actually is put to use here, in what is a very theatrical like song. Very original and different than anything I have ever heard. I could only use Queensryche or Led Zeppelin comparisons to describe the progressive nature of this track. Exit Elvis, is an album that grows to be better and better with each and every listen. Hear for yourself, without sounding pretentious, this very well may be the best album to come out so far this year, and it's a debut. Exit Elvis, is a work of art."

ANOTHER ex-Van Halen vocalist rebounds in style!

John S. Harris | Memphis, TN | 02/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One of Gary Cherone's most lauded contributions to Extreme and Van Halen was his ability to write interesting, philosophical lyrics. With this Tribe of Judah CD he continues that trend and has only gotten better.
Two of his former Extreme bandmates, bassist Pat Badger and drummer Mike Mangini, are joined by a not-famous-but-should-be guitarist and a keyboard player to form this power quintet. The tunes are mostly heavy and full of crunchy guitars. Best part: the tunes don't follow the normal Verse Verse Chorus Bridge Chorus pattern. The song structures and melodies are much more musically interesting than I expected.
The only throwaway track is "2+2". Less a solid contribution to the CD than a private indulgence (or favor), the song doesn't exactly fit. But at a running time of less than one minute, it can be forgiven. If this were a major-label release, there is almost no way that song would end up on this disc. But it's not, so it did.
Highlights of "Exit Elvis": the songs Thanks for Nothing, Suspension of Disbelief, No One, and Left For Dead.I hope we get another disc from these guys. As I write this review, "Exit Elvis", or at least the material on it, is over a year old. Time for a new disc, guys. Looking forward to hearing it!"

Fantastic Debut Album

Matthew Culbreth | Atlanta, GA | 10/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What an album! What a debut album!Although this is Tribe of Judah's first album, the players have been around for quite a while. Most notable of course is Gary Cherone, formerly of Van Halen and Extreme. Man did he show up for this one...The opening of the CD is just great--"Left for Dead" really explodes out of the gates with a force Van Halen never achieved on VH3. Any Extreme fans will like the album because of Cherone, but it goes much further than that I think. Cherone is a powerful lyricist, and several of the songs deal with his standard themes.The new sound is classified as industrial rock I guess, but whatever it's called it really hits the spot in these days of pseudo-rock. Pick it up--well worth it!"