Memphis boys Tora Tora slurp in a shot of adrenalin, toughning their blues métal focus in something approaching bands such as Tesla, Cinderella, Great White, heavier riffs, bluesier blues. One of the best at bluesy Hair Metal band, biggest ace being Plant-leaning vocalist Anthony Corder
Tora Tora was a band out of Memphis, TN that hit the hard rock/metal scene in 1989 with their debut album “Surprise Attack”. The band had a great sound that really kinda of put them outside of the “hair metal” badge that was pinned upon many bands coming out around this time
They did have a few videos that hit Headbanger’s Ball back in the day so at least it was enough to earn them a few notable tours and a pretty nice sized following across the US.
The debut album spawned one decent single with “Walkin’ Shoes”. The album sold decently and the band toured w/ acts like L.A Guns, Sass Jordan, Bonham, Dangerous Toys, and countless others. Then the band set out to write and record an amazing and sadly overlooked album.
“Wild America” was released in the year of doom for all that was hard rock/metal, 1992. The band showed definite signs of growing up yet the sound that worked so well for them stayed the same and sounded even better on new songs such as the title track “Wild America”, “Lay Your Money Down” and “Dead Man’s Hand”. The sound was more mature, less metal sounding and seemed to embrace the roots a bit more. The album was extremely well produced and even spawned a couple of great singles/videos, “Amnesia” and “Faith Healer”.
This album from start to finish is a great, classic hard rock record that really stands up well on it’s own.
Now remastered with 5 bonus tracks including the Walking Shoes single, the Faith Healer remix and the song they made for Bill’s and Ted’s Excellent Adventure soundtrack (Dancing with a gyspy)