Tourniquet -- Carry the Wounded

6/10

For some reason, back in early high school, the one jam I always wanted my older cousin, Rhett, to blast from his car stereo was Tourniquet's "Carry the Wounded." Its insanely catchy opening riff, played cleanly, then repeated again with distortion, along with the call and response action in the second verse, made the song insanely addictive. When I listen to it now, I can still imagine sitting in his car at the now shuttered Tinseltown movie theater in Baton Rouge before a flick started, head-banging and playing drums on his dashboard. As awesome as that song is, I never really thought about why it was the only song we listened to on the entire five-song E.P. it gives its name to. That's because the other four tracks are, for the most part, weak.
I think Tourniquet was perhaps trying to state that their departure from their thrash roots was no joke. These songs on Carry the Wounded, particularly the last four, are distinctly different from even any tinges of thrash music. Even after that jamming opening, "Carry the Wounded" itself gets pretty atmospheric, more alt-metal than anything. "When the Love is Right" follows...and it's a piano ballad! There's some technical acoustic guitar playing 2/3 in...and then a modulation! Then we get a quick, fun Fleetwood Mac cover with "Oh Well," which revisits the groovy hard rock of the band's previous album, Vanishing Lessons. We then go back to ballad territory, with a new version of Vanishing Lessons' "My Promise." This time the song features a pretty bitchin violin and cello section. The E.P. then closes with the goofy, laid-back groove-rock fun of "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose," which truthfully sounds like an okay B-Side. Also, I only figured out the meaning of the title like a month ago, and then I felt dumb.
Overall, this E.P. has the definite feeling of, "Here's an awesome new song ("Carry the Wounded") along with a few odds and ends we didn't really have room for elsewhere." It's most definitely NOT a great place to start for listeners new to the band. These also aren't my favorite Tourniquet ballads (not the band's strongest suit, anyway), as heartfelt as they might be. However, for fans, Carry the Wounded is an amusing, but mostly disposable 20 minutes.


1995 Intense Records
1. Carry the Wounded 5:00
2. When the Love is Right 4:40
3. Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac cover) 2:33
4. My Promise 3:17
5. Heads I Win, Tails You Lose 3:50