''After We Go'' is the second studio album by American rock band Tantric. Released on February 24, 2004, it debuted at number 56 on the Billboard Album Charts but quickly lost momentum due to the lack of a strong single. Despite the lack of radio play, the album was considered a commercial success by singer Hugo Ferreira because it fared extremely well through downloaded sales. ''After We Go'' would be Tantric's final album for Maverick.

Background and recording

After wrapping up a headlining tour on April 7, 2002, the band went to Ocean Way studios in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

to record their second album with producer

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' * 8stops7 - '' In Moderation'' *Alice in Chains ...

. The band expected to release the new work, originally to be titled ''Zero Point Mantra'', by year's end. After two long sessions, however, the label insisted Tantric to return to the studio and continue. The third session churned out three more songs including the singles "Hey Now" and "The Chain". Singer Hugo Ferreira noted of the experience, "This record was a long and painful process to make. We were under a lot of pressure from our label to spit something out." The band contemplated recording a cover and simply chose the first song they heard on

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

radio, "The Chain". At this point, the tentative release date was set at February 10, 2004. Ferreira wrote the lead single, "Hey Now", with

Extreme Extreme may refer to: Science and mathematics Mathematics *Extreme point, a point in a convex set which does not lie in any open line segment joining two points in the set *Maxima and minima, extremes on a mathematical function Science *Extremop ...

guitarist

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. He has also recorded a ...

. The two both grew up in

Hudson, Massachusetts Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, with a total population of 20,092 as of the 2020 census. Before its incorporation as a town in 1866, Hudson was a neighborhood and unincorporated village of Marlborough, Massa ...

, and their moms were friends, so Ferreira would spend time with Bettencourt's nephews and play his guitars. They eventually met up in Los Angeles where Ferreira asked Bettencourt to write with him. Their demo was then brought back to the rest of Tantric.

Music and lyrics

On ''After We Go'', the second Tantric production by Toby Wright, the band continued their rather distinctive method of blending well-layered melodic vocals over distorted guitars. This often leads to comparisons with

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

group,

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

, whom Wright had famously worked with. The album is slightly heavier as a whole, with the opener "Chasing After" setting the stage for the whole album. Guitarist Todd Whitener provides more vocals than on the previous album, including the lead in the chorus of the title track, "After We Go". Ferreira described Tantric's second album as "more mature" and "definitely heavier". He described current issues such as the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

and a struggling economy as helping "give this record its own soul." Corresponding with the album's aggressive theme, the lead single was described by Ferreira as "kind of a 'You did me wrong, so f--- you' song."

Critical reception

''After We Go'' received largely negative reviews from critics. Johnny Loftus of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

gave the album 2-out-of-5 and described it as following the same format as ''Tantric''. He noted its strong comparison to

and that ''After We Go'' exhibits the band to be no more than "mid-level grunge revisionists." Amber Authier of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' gave a poor review despite feeling that it "improves upon their self-titled debut." She noted, "the opening track is worth a couple of listens. Unfortunately the rest is not."

Commercial performance

Sales of ''After We Go'' would exceed 200,000 units, a far cry from Tantric's debut effort. The album peaked on the ''Billboard'' 200 at #56, higher than its more successful predecessor. Aside from "Hey Now", which reached number 8 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched i ...

, its singles did not chart substantially.

Touring and promotion

A music video was produced for the single "Hey Now", which predated the album's release. The follow-up singles, the title track and a cover of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the li ...

's "

The Chain "The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album '' Rumours''. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John ...

", also met with poor reception. Nevertheless, Tantric soldiered on, touring with 3 Doors Down and

Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001 after the dissolution of Dreve, his previous band. Smith, still under contract with record label Atlantic Records, recruited the band's original ...

for much of 2004. Tantric's cover of

's "The Chain" became the theme song for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's '' Family Bonds''.Zahlaway, Jo
Tantric takes another swing on U.S. club circuit
LiveDaily.com (August 26, 2004). Retrieved March 22, 2008. The opening track, "Chasing After", was also featured in the video games '' WWE Day of Reckoning'' and '' WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' in fall 2004.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2004 albums Albums produced by Toby Wright Tantric (band) albums