| The End Begins | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Tantric | ||||
| Released | April 22, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | September 2007 at Soundmine Studio, PA | |||
| Genre | Post-grunge, alternative metal | |||
| Length | 44:30 | |||
| Label | Silent Majority Group | |||
| Producer | Toby Wright | |||
| Tantric chronology | ||||
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The End Begins is the third studio album from Louisville, KY-based band Tantric. It is the first one recorded without the band's original members Todd Whitener, Matt Taul, and Jesse Vest. Vocalist Hugo Ferreira, the only remaining original member, was forced to scrap the original line-up's complete third album in favor of The End Begins, an effort established by new members of the band in addition to Ferreira. This is the only album to feature ex-Fuel drummer Kevin Miller.
On January 13, 2009, The End Begins was re-released as a "Digital Deluxe" edition. This includes the bonus tracks "Down & Out" (Acoustic) and "Fall Down." As of May 2009, the album has sold well over 70,000 copies.[1]
Contents |
Armed with Elliott Blakey in the producer's chair, work commenced on the follow-up to After We Go in February 2005. The band finished over a dozen songs for the album, which at the time had the Led Zeppelin-esque title, Tantric III. Samples were released in May 2007 of the songs "Fall Down" (which included a guest verse from Nappy Roots member Skinny DeVille), "The One," and "Letting Go." However, many internal problems plagued the band over the course of this time, including the departure of bassist Jesse Vest (Whitener recorded all of the bass on the album), sales of After We Go hurt by downloading, and the band's release from Maverick Records, the latter of which has shelved this album indefinitely.
Finally, the original line-up collapsed in May 2007 with Whitener and Taul announcing their departure through TantricOnline.com, the band's former online message board. Ferreira has claimed that his fellow band members' departures were a result of frustrations with the record label and music industry in general.[2] The album has been described by Blakey as the band's most aggressive, yet still possessing "beautiful pop moments." Continuing the band's traditional method, harmonized vocals and distorded guitars are featured heavily on this album, and Whitener, vocally, is featured equally with Ferreira and sheds the "backup singer" moniker. The vocal attack on T3 was truly a tandem effort. The production value is also extremely different from any of the bands previous works. Whereas Tantric and After We Go had very full, deep, Toby Wright influences, Tantric 3 has more of an aggressive, Low-Fi sound, that does not accent the band's ambience, so heavily featured on the previous two records.
On Ferreira's birthday of 2006, Tantric parted ways with Maverick and soon after saw the original members depart. Hugo Ferreira has shown mixed feelings toward releasing Tantric III; in 2009, he expressed interest but noted the high cost of purchasing the songs from Maverick. "If it's in the cards, it will happen someday, but more like 'the lost tapes'," he commented.[3] Herreira also commented on his hopes to have leaked it to the fans as a potential Christmas 2008 gift for their support.
Left without a band, Hugo Ferreira scrapped the entire record. He began writing new material at his own studio before enlisting members of his side project, State of the Art, to record and tour as Tantric. These include ex-Fuel drummer Kevin Miller, ex-DramaGods bassist Joe Pessia on guitar, Fosterchild bassist Erik Leonhardt, and Marcus Ratzenboeck on electric violin, adding another dimension to the band. Ratzenboeck's brother Derek, a classical concert violinist, would composed the intro violin riff to the song "Down & Out."
With returning producer Toby Wright, the new line-up finished recording within 30 days in September 2007.[4]
The End Begins was released on April 22, 2008, and debuted at #91 on the Billboard 200. As of July 11, 2008, it has sold over 10,000 copies, with the lead single, "Down & Out" at #8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. The song's popularity led it to become Tampa Bay Rays slugger Evan Longoria's walk-up theme as well as the theme for WZR Radio with Ryan Clark and Richard Gray on WZRonline.
In regards to the album title, Hugo Ferreira cited the process up to its inception and stated, "the end of one thing led to the beginning of another." He also noted that the majority of songs revolve around either the band itself or a troubled personal relationship he endured during the writing process. Ferreira described the album's lyrical themes in a November 2008 interview:
Oddly, the only version of the physical End Begins album is a partially censored edition; the tracks "The One" and "Monopoly" are muted of explicit lyrics and listed as "Clean" when played on a PC.[6] "Love Song," however, frequently uses the word "shit" uncensored during its chorus.[7][8] It appears that the only way of obtaining the two aforementioned songs uncensored is by purchasing them as mp3s via iTunes or Amazon.com[9] or obtaining them through the band's manager.
Based on crowd response to the song "Fall Down," which was originally planned for Tantric III, the band rerecorded it as their second single for a November 4, 2008 radio and iTunes release. With this, they also announced a re-release of The End Begins including the said song as a bonus track.[10] The "Digital Deluxe" edition, available January 13, 2009, also features an acoustic version of "Down & Out" but is evidently only available in download form.[11]
All lyrics written by Hugo Ferreira.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Regret" | 4:13 |
| 2. | "Down and Out" | 3:39 |
| 3. | "The One (feat. Kevin Martin of Candlebox)" | 4:08 |
| 4. | "Love Song" | 4:03 |
| 5. | "Wishing" | 4:50 |
| 6. | "Something Better" | 4:01 |
| 7. | "Lucky One" | 3:28 |
| 8. | "The End Begins" | 4:11 |
| 9. | "Monopoly" | 3:51 |
| 10. | "Why Don't You" | 3:42 |
| 11. | "Lay" | 4:19 |
| Digital Deluxe bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 12. | "Down & Out (Acoustic)" | 3:36 | |||||||
| 13. | "Fall Down" | 3:37 | |||||||
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