Tantric — The Sum Of All Things

Although they have been around since just before the turn of the Millennium, I had never heard of Tantric, at least I don’t recall ever having heard of them much less heard them. The band hails from Louisville, like the late great Muhammad Ali, and the best forgotten serial killer Edward Edwards.

Their last album was released in September 2014; that was called Blue Room Archives; their current and sixth release The Sum Of All Things will be shipped from July 23, but you can sample it before that. The single Living Here Without You was uploaded to YouTube on June 23 by Cleopatra Records, and the album – on CD, digital, and vinyl – can be pre-ordered. Yes, they are still making vinyl; this latter comes with a special offer.

So what is on the album? It starts with a strong, slow to medium tempo number, Alone, then progresses to Walk That Way, the title track – “I’m the seeker of the sum of all things”, or it would be if track 11 were not called The Sum Of All Things; this must surely be their catchphrase.

Living Here Without You is the fifth track, it runs to four minutes, and is certainly single material. Track eight is Compound, a fierce metal number although running to only 3 minutes 22 seconds, definitely one to see them play live with extended soloing.

Track 12 is Breakdown, not the classic Tom Petty track, but not a bad substitute, and far more uptempo. This is actually an old song; it was the band’s first single and was released way back in 2001. To date, it is their only entry in the SongFacts database.

If there is one disappointing thing about this album it is that there are no long tracks; there should always be at least one. The longest, at 4 minutes 26 is Can’t Find This. On the plus side, 14 songs in total isn’t bad. The final one is Whiskey And You, an obvious lament for love lost, although Colin Raye said the same thing and better with Little Rock.

As for the line-up, the only founder member left is Hugh Ferreira; the others are far too young to have been playing professionally in 1999, and in fact only Ferreira played on Blue Room Archives, but as albums of this nature go, The Sum Of All Things isn’t a bad effort.