Tourniquet -- Crawl to China

8/10

Tourniquet's unquestionably most controversial album is 1997's Crawl to China. Naturally, Crawl to China is my favorite Tourniquet album. A few years before this, the band abandoned their thrash metal roots for groovy hard rock, switching vocalists in the process. However, the shift to Vanishing Lessons' style was much easier for many fans to take compared to the sea change on Crawl to China. Here, the band present an eclectic rock record with tinges of jazz, strange pop experiments, guitar effects aplenty, and only slight influences of metal, with no sign of thrash to be heard--though the influences from classical music remain. I can understand the complaints of the long time fans, but frankly, this eclectic rock-style is one that suits Tourniquet well.
The secret here is strong songwriting and a showcase of talent on the instrumentation that's far beyond that of your average rock band. The sheer diversity of sounds and textures the band explore here also help. The fact that all of these things come together is a testament to Tourniquet, and perhaps mostly, drummer and frontman Ted Kirkpatrick's talent. The band also explore the far corners of what would generally be expected in Christian rock lyrics. Selfish prayers, addiction, animal rights, Edgar Allan Poe, are all topics you likely wouldn't get in the almost completely worship-dominated Christian market of 2020.
So if you're looking for a gnarly thrash record, check out all the Tourniquet records before and after the ones I reviewed. It's pretty much all good stuff stuff, even if I don't own any of it. But if you're into rock records that sound a bit different, Crawl to China.
NOTE: Crawl to China was remastered in 2009 with a different track order. The original track order, listed below, is far superior.


1997 Benson Records
1. Claustrospelunker 4:19
2. Crawl to China 4:28
3. Enveloped in Python 3:59
4. White Knucklin' the Rosary 4:10
5. If I Was There 5:56
6. The Tell-Tale Heart 5:14
7. Bats 3:56
8. Proprioception: The Line Knives Syndrome 4:59
9. Tire Kicking 3:44
10. If Pigs Could Fly 4:37
11. Crank the Knife 4:16
12. Stumblefoot 3:40
13. Imaginary Friend 3:56
14. Going, Going... Gone 6:04
15. America 4:39