Prong
“Scorpio Rising”
(Locomotive)
It’s been awhile since we heard anything out of Tommy Victor and the prong camp. Appetites where whet with the release “100% Live” back in late 2002 that packaged some of the bands best songs together on one live disc. And now the full-length new album. It’s a dark, sludgy, crawling type Prong nowadays. Very mid-tempo. “Embrace the Depth” was titled “Initiation” on their live album where the track was first introduced to the masses.
It’s a good benchmark of current Prong. It has the crunchy guitars that hint at the earlier stuff (“Force Fed” and “Beg to Differ” albums), but more driving and sung choruses that reflect the “Cleansing” era Prong . “Regal” has a thrashy downward spiral of riffage that falls right into a some almost Misfits punk type blast beats as it plows forward with it’s head down, knocking people out of the way. On the whole, the bass presence is low and bullish, another mark of the Prong sound. Pit that against semi-thrashy guitars and a penchant for a big stomping chorus and roll over you beats you have the general Prong attack.
The songs that use more of the thrash than the “big rock” sound are the standouts, but that might be an old school bias creeping in on my part. “Beg to Differ” was my introduction to this band, and it was a pivotal release in 1990 for metal. So 14 years later, “Scorpio Rising” comes through. Still credible. Still relevant. Still Prong.
