TRAGIK – Crescendo

Rock Company 2025

On top of their game, Rhode Island band observe existential plane and have plain fun on its stage.

TRAGIK –
Crescendo

“It’s so hard to be human,” declares Phil Vincent on one of this album’s tracks, and indeed, there’s always been a sense of trying a bit too hard on his ensemble’s records, such as "Ultima Ratio" – yet the songs of “Crescendo” eventually deliver on the promise first outlined on “Poetic Justice” almost three decades earlier. With fewer worries about the whole wide world affairs and firmer focus on simple sentiments, the collective may still muse on some philosophical issues, the word “evil” cropping up in several pieces, but it doesn’t get in the way of their fantastic rock ‘n’ roll drive. As bassist Damian D’Ercole and drummer Dirk Phillips lay down the same powerful groove they offered all those years ago and elevate guitar parts which Vince O’Regan and the warbler weave with a lot of verve, infectious passages reign supreme now, unburdened by experimental ideas and free to roam with no stylistic care.

Yet while the aforementioned ballad embraces a vibrantly orchestrated, piano-laden arrangement, it’s riff-driven likes of “Phoenix Rising” where lush vocal harmonies and instrumental interplay are just as sublime, and “Givin’ It All Away” where relentless beat and six-string roar are impossible to disregard, that pull the listener into their hard rock den and don’t let go. So “Scoop” can cut into injustices of love on a mini-epic scale, but the melodic scope of “Ungrateful” is one of pure pop stripe, applied to angry heaviness before anthemic “Beyond The Moonlight” strikes for a little more than two minutes. There’s a great bluesy sway to “Living” and tasty sonic assault to “Burn It Down” to ramp up the album’s overall drama, and warm swagger to “All I Have Is You” which pushes all the right buttons on the audience’s psyche, with glam elements of “Judas” rendering the record’s finale blisteringly brilliant.

An apex of this band’s career, “Crescendo” triumphantly lives up to its title.

****4/5

June 26, 2025