Sometimes in order to face your future, you need to crash into your past. With that said, Todd Lewis has put a chokehold on his Toadies legacy with Buried In Your Black Heart, which takes the cynicism of his former with the powerful glory of vintage Cheap Trick and pretties it all up with the warm guitars of The Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish.
Lewis isn’t in any hurry to leave his Toadies similarities anytime soon, and how can he with his singular seeming spit and venom delivery. You can just imagine him over at the Last Beat Studios Todd cranking out the opening title track or “Beautiful Night” on his SG. This disc is closer in vibe to the brilliant ferocity of Velvet with its urgent beat and frantic rhythm, and of course there’s Lewis’s seductive murderer disguise. “You’re So Goddamn Beautiful” is almost soccer stadium built in its chanting chorus and huge sprawling riffs. This isn’t only Lewis’s show though; monster drummer Taz Bentley provides every inch of laden backbeat - heads are cracked and cymbals sent shivering. He himself is living down his past as the skins man for Reverend Horton Heat, but is well on his way to leaving that shadow behind replacing punk aesthetic with rock power.
Lewis’s religious upbringing has to have something to do with his vocal approach. He preaches fire and brimstone, speaking in tongues and raising the spirits of good and evil, hooting and hollering between actual enunciations. “Do For Me” is a wrecking ball, pure and simple - the big background vocals propel the song but do not outshine a bass line that is as funky as Rick James on a coke and hooker holiday. Bentley’s control over his fills pour out of all over the track, as jitter-bugging guitars mute and open, revealing the huge chorus of “you can for me, like I can do for you” that sticks like day old gum in your brain. A “stolen” Corgan/Iha riff opens up “Walk Away” and Lewis’s inner punk unfurls this into a 3-minute burner ala “Mister Love”.
Rounding out the album, it’s painfully obvious that “Your Fault” is the single here, as a sweet pop strum is given a demented sheen. It’s just another gem of relationship toil that Lewis seems to be a genuine master of; the spoils of love gone wrong. “Conditioned” lulls with a menace and there is some really interesting chording going on in the background, along with some quick jazz tom and cymbal work, as the song goes from quiet introspective into a jumpy mid-section without losing its melody. Closer “Let It Go” may seem fitting given that Black Heart is the first true document Lewis and company have to shake the ghosts of the past. It is a churning, turbulent song aided by the rare addition of keys and choral lift-off.
Buried In Your Black Heart is the record that Todd Lewis and Taz Bentley needed to make in order to escape (well, maybe not escape) but to remove themselves from their local legendary status of yesterday. To some it’s an homage to their past work, to others it’s a re-paving of the same old highway, but to me, it represents a strong and honest work that happens to stand on it’s own two feet, regardless of its original resources.
-- Justin Press
©2003 Dallas Music Guide