TRAGIK – Poetic Justice

Tragik, the latest entry in the “how to misalign some characters in a band name to avoid copyright infringement” series, is a new United States based band consisting of one multi-faceted Phil Vincent, Dirk Phillips, and twenty-two year old newcomer Damian D’Ercole.

Phil Vincent is a self-made, one-man band as he’s proficient with multiple instruments. Phil’s track record includes releasing nine solo albums of Melodic Hard Rock originating from 1997, and not only did he play all instruments on most of these releases, but he handled the vocal duties as well. Phil also seems to be the wordsmith of the group as two of his solo releases are entitled Tragic and Circular Logik, when slightly combined comes up with “Tragik.”

Some of the attention afforded to Tragik is perhaps due to the involvement of local session man, and perhaps up-and-coming guitar prodigy Damian D’Ercole. Damian also handles bass throughout this release, which is a testament to his own adaptability. There are fifteen tracks on this debut release, but Damian only performs lead guitar on ten of them. Opener “Show The World” is a hard-rocking track with an upbeat chorus and contains a scorching lead, but it’s a lead not played by D’Ercole, unfortunately. “Test The Faith” is actually the first driving tune that D’Ercole plays lead on … thankfully he’s up to the task as he demonstrates an aggressive, almost Van Halen-like attack approach, while at the same time playing it somewhat “safe.” He’s on the mark, but is restrained enough as to not get too carried away … evidence of his maturity level. The same can be said for songs like the slower Rock sounds of “Who Will Be There?” and “Here In My Heart” tracks. The young D’Ercole’s playing throughout is worthy of attention, but he’s not at the stage where younger aspiring guitar beginners will be stealing his licks … not yet at least. Hopefully, he took some notes from guest musicians David Zychek and Billy Roux, as both deliver some scorching leads of their own on this album, especially on closers “Back Of My Mind” and especially the last track, “Higher.”

Not surprisingly, Vincent’s vocals come across as clean and mature, at times staying in the same range as say a smoother version of Don Dokken (Dokken is a noted influence of the band’s). The rhythm section of D’Ercole and Phillips comes through the mix as “solid” and clean and serves as a strong foundation for this threesome’s mature Hard Rock sound.

One possible minor distraction for Metal fans is some of synthesizer sounds used by Phil, e.g., the beginning of album opener “Show The World,” where the sounds are almost “Industrial,” a ’la Rammstein in nature. They just seem to be tongue-in-cheek with the otherwise mature sound that the threesome has managed to exude throughout the record.

This threesome has submitted, bottom line, a strong debut effort. They’ve come up with a polished, mature Hard Rock sound without sounding sterile. D’Ercole can only get better as he proves he has the restraint and capability to mix up his pedal selection, so as not to sound too redundant. With fifteen tracks on this debut, hopefully it’s safe to assume that this trio has more than enough gumption to record a follow-up release. Definitely a band to keep an eye on!

Lineup

Phil Vincent –Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizers, Organ, and Piano
Dirk Phillips – Drums
Damian D’Ercole – Lead, Rhythm, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Bass

Guest Musicians:
David Zychek – Lead Guitars on “Show The World” and “Back Of My Mind”
Billy Roux – Lead Guitars on “Message To God,” “Shadow In The Night,” and “Higher”