Despite only forming in 2017 Tomorrow is Lost have created quite a buzz for themselves, gaining strong support from rock radio stations like Planet Rock and earning a spot at Bloodstock in 2018 due to their reputation as a great live band and burgeoning fanbase. The Newcastle based five-piece released an E.P. The Shadowman in 2018 and have since been snapped up by U.S. label, Eclipse Records. So far so good, but this is where it gets serious…
Well if ever a band displayed the desire and ambition to get to the next level and achieve commercial success then Tomorrow Is Lost is it. Therapy is as polished, as honed and toned a rock beast as you’ll hear all year. Ruthless in its’ intent, not a second is wasted and no studio trickery is spared to apply the sparkle and crunch to this state of the art rock record. Produced by Dave Boothroyd (Phil Campbell, Don Brocco) and mastered by Jon Astley (Judas Priest, The Who, The Rolling Stones) Tomorrow Is Lost’s very decent rock songs have been elevated to position where they will become hard to resist. There is something here for most rock fans – there are the soaring, soulful, lighters in the air moments, shuddering, stuttering electro-metal attacks, ballsy pop-rockers and the obligatory, but mercifully cheese-lite bluesy ballad. Respect must go to the entire band who cover a fair amount of ground stylistically, with great skill, despite being relatively tender in years. (By which I mean I’m old enough to be their dads).
I find it quite surprising that a lot of the press relating to the band lumps them in with something called the NWOCR – the New Wave of Classic Rock, which I was barely aware was a thing. I associate that sort of tag with the current swathe of acts who sound like second rate Nickelback or Black Stone Cherry copyists. If I was the band I wouldn’t be associating myself with something so conservative. Tomorrow Is Lost are a far more dynamic and exciting a prospect than that sub-genre suggests and perhaps the most exciting thing about them is vocalist Cass King who is possessed of a range and power which is match of any of her peers. I have seen her voice compared to Lzzy Hale, but actually I think that’s a bit lazy as I’m hearing as much Skin (Skunk Anansie) in her banshee wail and Alanis Morissette in her swinging sass. On album standout Black and Blue where the band drop away and leave her voice unadorned she really gets the chance to prove the power and emotion she has at her command. However, it’s true, most of the time the songs are too busy trying to sonically overpower you to allow room for any real raw vulnerability to show.
In fact one criticism might be that some of these numbers could do with some room to breathe. Not one song hits the four minutes 30 secs mark, only the ballad Too Young To Know approaches it, the band perhaps realising that the time was needed to build the drama and wring the most out of the lyric. Several tracks, like the perky, funky and yet heavy as hell White Noise feel like they could have another verse and chorus to really build the crunching riffs to a crescendo.
You may have heard the singles, Wildchild (did we really need another rock song called that?) and Hideaway but reassuringly they are far from the best tracks on the album. They may both employ big radio-friendly choruses, but every song here is designed to grab your ears within seconds of its appearance and there’s lots going on here over and above the huge hooks. Songs like Smile, Electric and the title track reward repeated listens and don’t easily become tiresome reductive earworms. Maybe it’s time you got some Therapy?
The new Tomorrow Is Lost album, Therapy, is out now on Eclipse Records.
