Totimoshi - Avenger
Volcom
Bluesy Alternative Rock with Stoner influences
10 songs (43:17)
Release year: 2011
Totimoshi, Volcom
Reviewed by Khelek

Totimoshi are an alternative rock band with a decidedly blues/stoner rock feeling to their sound. At first listen you might think they are trying to emulate Year Long Disaster or Spiritual Beggars to some extent, but their influences clearly range all over the rock spectrum. However, the big, dirty guitar riffs in some of the songs will actually make you think you're listening to a stoner metal album at times, but unfortunately this illusion never lasts for long.

After the short intro, the title track starts off with overdriven riffs and the vocals of frontman Tony Aguilar. His voice is a bit hard to describe as he has a unique sounding higher-pitched voice, though he tries to give it a rougher, lower quality most of the time. The guitar riffs here are quite memorable, and the melodies are relatively catchy so it makes for a pretty good start. I was mostly unimpressed by The Fool, which bears some resemblance to Billy Joel's Piano Man except with bluesy electric guitars. The melody is somewhat memorable, but the song is simply too slow and wandering to be exciting at all. Mainline doesn't speed things up, but it does do a good job of creating this seething, bluesy atmosphere. The vocalist does sound like he's on the verge of coughing his lungs out, but some people might find that endearing I suppose. Rose is pretty typical and uninspired. It's simply the same old thing that has been done in stoner metal over and over again. The bridge and chorus are the only redeeming qualities, and even they sound a bit tired. I like the overall atmosphere and guitar work in Snag. This is how you take a slow rhythm and make it work. I think it's the vocals and the vocal melodies that are the only weak point of the song. Also, there is so much distortion on the guitars at times that it can start to sound like noise, so they should be careful about that. Waning Divine uses some good guitar work to create a foreboding atmosphere, something with a good doom feeling. Reminds me of Orange Goblin a bit. The only weak part is the vocals, which are stronger in this song than many of the others, but still not that great. If they were just a bit more powerful, like Rob Lowe or Spiritual Beggars' Christian Sjostrand, this song could be much better.

Overall I did not find this album to be terrible, but unfortunately it's not very interesting either. I like some of the bluesy guitar work because it has the ability to be heavy and entertaining and memorable. However some of the songs just take too long to develop and the instrumental parts don't add anything, Rose is a clear example of that. If these guys want to really interest anyone in the metal/hard rock scene, they have to come up with an album that hasn't been done 50 times before by better bands in the hard rock/stoner genres. The guitar work is pretty good, but not groundbreaking, and the vocals are simply not strong enough to carry the sound either. It's not bad music, but these guys have got to do something a bit more original and exciting if they want to keep my attention.

Killing Songs :
Avenger, Snag, Waning Divine
Khelek quoted 65 / 100
Other albums by Totimoshi that we have reviewed:
Totimoshi - Mysterioso reviewed by Alex and quoted 78 / 100
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