Rising from the ashes of
Hades and Texan stalwarts
Watchtower, New Jersey's own
Non-Fiction released its promising 1991 debut
Preface to much fanfare in the New York/Long Island/New Jersey area. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm failed to manifest itself in the rest of the United States. Deeply ensconced in the slow doom and gloom of early
Black Sabbath-meets-
Soudgarden (circa their SST/
Louder Than Love days),
Non-Fiction's refreshingly depressing direction was a far cry from singer Alan Tecchio and guitarist Dan Lorenzo's previous outfits.
Preface kicks into funeral procession mode with the "Into the Void"-inspired "The My Way." And unlike the prog-lite tendencies of his previous bands which celebrated the let's-try-to-jam-as-many-words-into-a-verse-as-possible dictum, when given the necessary breathing room, singer Alan Tecchio's voice sounds splendid (in a very
Chris Cornell kind of way). Lorenzo's tuned-down
Les Paul gives way to the album's second track, the even better, dirgy "Listen." Apart from the weak "Aged," the rest of
Preface is like one big time warp. Think of it this way: If Trouble had met
Toni Iommi around the time of
Sabotage and had had a spawn, there's a good chance that its kids would have been
Non-Fiction fans. ~ John Franck