Album Review: The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza-Danza III: The Series Of Unfortunate Events

(Note: I am going to start centering my images it looks a lot better)

I listened to this record for 3 reasons 1: A few of my friends love this band and I haven't listened to that much of their stuff 2:It was raining extremely hard yesterday in Massachusetts and 3: Cephalic Carnage's MySpace player wouldn't load in my browser so I couldn't listen to their new record. Prior to this release I had seen The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza live this past April at the New England Metal and Hardcore festival and I was not particularly impressed by their performance. They were just an above average band with a hillarious name/song titles and not much else. After listening to this record I can say they are better than I thought where for sure.

Danza III:The Series of Unfortunate Events is an off the walls record. Not off the walls good but off the walls spastic. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza spasticness is not all bad. Their frantic brand of experimental metal lets their guitarist Josh Travis run wild. Travis is an exceptional guitar player who is easily the best thing about this band. Travis uses an 8-string guitar which adds more depth to his super-technical style of playing. This whole record showcases lightning-fast guitarwork but it works most effectively on tracks opener "Vicki Mayhem" and the album's fastest track "There's A Time and Place For Everything".

Danza III is not without its weaknesses though. The production is pretty sloppy. The drums get completely drowned out in the mix and the vocals are sometimes muddy. Another flaw is that they can be too insane for their own good at times and these tracks sound really sloppy and poorly written. Breakdowns are also used extremely poorly. Don't get me wrong I enjoy some breakdowns when they are used correctly and not forced in there but these breakdowns are annoying and not needed.

Overall Danza III is worth a listen. It's sure as hell not a great record and I am sure a lot of people will hate it and rightfully so The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza is not for everyone. I think if they had better production and stopped writing some sloppy songs they could be a very good band. There is a lot of percision and some excellent guitarwork to work with. The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravagnaza has potential lets see if they can use it.

3/5 Stars

Standout Tracks

1.There's A Time and A Place For Everything

2.Vicki Mayhem

3.A Trail Of Tears