Review Summary: Tsunami Bomb's last album shows how the band has grown and become much better.
Tsunami Bomb’s last album opens up as if it was still their first and they want to be heard. The riff hooks you in as the bass and drums thunder deeply in the background. The petite front-woman, Agent M, then begins to sing in her aggravated but sensitive voice. Again, and in this case even better, Tsunami Bomb made a great album filled with emotion and the force of punk. On the previous album, The Ultimate Escape, there were a few more metal-ish songs that were written sloppy and had mediocre lyrics. But here Tsunami Bomb put forth a fine 12 track list. The Definitive Act begins with “Dawn on a Funeral Day”, which is about irony in our lives. Agent M yells “The air is warm but I feel gray/ The chill of dawn on a funeral day”. Of course in the background are the bassist and guitarist, Matt McKenzie and Mike Griffen, screaming lyrics when Agent M is not. There background screaming can be annoying, but it shows how the band still has that pure punk energy.
The band still left a few punk/metal tracks on with “My Machete” and “Tetanus Shot”, but they get away with it because the choruses and guitar licks are catchy. Besides the tracks with her screaming and the band jamming, many of the songs have meaning. The emotion filled “A Lonely Chord”, Agent M sings about how she is lonely sometimes but will not give up. The songs about fighting for a place to settle down and call home. The song that I think that means the most is “Negative One to Ten”. The song is about music itself. Agent M sings over a killer guitar riff about how she used to try to be popular. When she didn’t feel comfortable with that, she found comfort in music.
“It can be more than just sounds and words,
It can be something that saves you from yourself,
Your thoughts, your life, your world.
It can be more than a favorite line.
It can be something that shapes you when you're young,
But gives you freedom at the same time”
In the lines before, she also talks about how songs saved her and stayed with her entire life. One of the catchiest songs that could be played on the radio is “Safety Song”. Maybe they wrote the song as a safety so they could get radio time. With the “whoa, whoa, whoa” from the band and Agent M singing about how she found freedom in her life. One of the nest tracks however is the second song, “Being Alright”. This may be Tsunami Bomb’s best song, nest to take “Take the Reigns” and “Russian Roulette”. The song shows how the band has grown and could continue to make great punk music that everyone can dance along to. Alas, after many new members, the band split in 2005, only to come together for a reunion show in 2009, in California for a drummer of a band they were friends with. Tsunami Bomb’s The Definitive Act was their best musically as well as lyrically. Agent M’s lyrics certainly improved and had more feeling. For the rest of the band, the riffs were better, the bass was skilled and the drums kicked-ass. Overall, if your looking for Tsunami Bomb, get this record.
