The issue with Thulsa Doom’s A Keen Eye for the Obvious (Stickman) is the same I share with regards possible “significant others”: lack of commitment. In Thulsa Doom’s case, they have produced a rock album that doesn’t want to fully embrace gritty riffs and hot leads and that doesn’t become totally engulfed in catchy melodies. As far as my shortcomings, I don’t need long-term relationships. My cats and I are doing just fine.

When Thulsa Doom allows themselves to be in the business of rocking out, it’s on numbers like ‘Baby, Hate Me’ which matches its wicked riff to a tempo that really makes it dance. ‘Wrap Up The Bad’ also plays into the guitarists Henning Solvang and Ole Petter Andreassen’s wheelhouse as they unleash tightly packed guitar lines, not unlike Mutoid Man.

‘In Italics and Bold’ steers A Keen Eye for the Obvious into a dream-like Smashing Pumpkins direction during its opening salvo and lets the melodies really soar on its choruses. Not sure if the A&R department fumbled the ball here, but ‘In Italics and Bold’ should’ve been the lead single here. But other numbers like ‘Magazine’ could’ve worked as melodic Trojan horse with its swaggering riff and Hall & Oates easy hooks.

Well, it seems like A Keen Eye for the Obvious is an easy win for Thulsa Doom, right? Not quite. We still have to deal with songs like ‘Lady Nina’ and ‘Bag of Fries’ which can somehow sound like the Refused/Thin Lizzy hybrid that nobody ever wanted. And we have an attempt at balladry on ‘Consider Me’ which lyrically tells us about booze, pills, and romance, but with no musical bite whatsoever.

Not a bad rock record, especially when compared to whatever is on the radio these days, but man could this album have embraced the madness (or solos, keyboards, or sax) a bit more.

6.0/10

HANS LOPEZ