Taz Taylor – Caffeine Racer / 2004 Warner Bros / 12 Tracks / http://www.taztaylor.com / http://www.luckmedia.com / Reviewed 18 February 2005
Impressively starting out eir debut with metal-laden guitar riffs (in the style of Megadeth or Helloween), Taz Taylor shows that ey can actually string together enough interesting riffs to create a coherent track without any vocals. The drums, played by Calvin Lakin seem a little too cookie-cutter and uninspired during these early tracks, but the key here is Taz – who does everything else. However, this one-track pony really starts to show signs of stress as early as the second track, “Major Minority”. All the tracks on “Caffeine Racer” are of this same instrumental variety, and what begins to happen is that everything on this disc sounds as if some of the most talented and exciting bands of the hair metal era submitted these tapes for their singer to sing over – but the singer hadn’t really gotten to them. The fact that Taz has an ear for arrangements and has the ability to translate them into real life successfully is important, but the fact is that these tracks are SCREAMING for vocals to be put on them.
The other major tension on “Caffeine Racer” comes at the nexus of the instruments found on this disc. As was previously mentioned, Taz plays everything besides drums, and throughout most of the disc, the drums are the one instrument that continually sound out of place. What Taz may want to do is either divvy up facets of instrumentation to a number of other individuals or just program out exactly what ey wants to with the drums on this track. As it stands right now, the entirety of the disc does have a good cohesion to it, but the drums just continually seem off. “Rigth Back Where I Started’s” guitar line is one of the heights of this disc, as it shows a side of humanity that Taz can’t show in more of the rote and utilitarian riffs that litter the disc.
If Taz can find a vocalist that can do justice to the incredible guitar work that is “Caffeine Racer’s” bread and butter, the resulting band may go down in the annals of metal history. However as “Caffeine Racer” sounds now, a key component is missing from the mix – all the technical ability in the world just simply can’t hold a listeners interest for the nigh-36 minute runtime. Here’s to hoping Warner Bros. Sees what I saw on this disc and sets Taz up with the best band money can buy – and the results of that band may just be an album I will purchase.
Top Tracks: Lightning Strikes, Caffeine Racer
Rating: 5.2/10