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So our Editor-in-chief approached me with this new album from Teramaze and tried to convince my metal brain, that it would definitely be my kind of music. Before I agreed doing this review, I wanted to background check the band and looked them up on Facebook. One picture caught my eye on the Band profile. It was showing a t-shirt from Teramaze, worn on the body of our own King of Thrash, James Hetfield. If the King was proud enough to show this band some respect, I would gladly do the same and my decision was “Yes, of course I’ll review this album”. The label categorizes it as speedy Thrash metal with a Modern Technical Edge. I was thinking like, yeah sure, it’s still thrash metal and I want music that challenges my mind, not saying I don’t’ like the speed and aggressiveness used in that genre. With open mind and the persuasion from Mr. Hetfield, the album was added to my playlist, and the play button was pressed. Wooow…I was speechless. Not sure what to expect, but the aggressive metal sound tickling my eardrums was just mind blowing. Now I had a better understanding of why the other “King” (aka Lance King), took this band under his massive metal wings at Nightmare Records. Before continuing analyzing the music just added to my jukebox, an introduction of the band would come in handy for the first time listeners out there. So here it comes. Teramaze is another act from within the borders of Australian and promoted as one of the country’s best kept secret until now. The band was formed in 1994 and the discography already counts 3 other releases and with 4 years between the third and newest addition called “AnhedoniA”, the fans have been waiting for a very long time. The current line-up is front man Brett Rerekura on vocals, Dean Wells and Mathew Dawson on guitar, Tijon Lolis on bass and Dean Kennedy on drums (replacing Julian Percy – R.I.P Brother). AnhedoniA is an 11 track album (including 1 bonus track, only available on CD) running almost 58 minutes. The talents of Dean Wells (guitar), Jeff Waters (Annihilator fame) and Neil Kernon (Queensryche, Nevermore, Nile and too many other bands to mention here) were used to create this monster album and mastered by the hands of Lasse Lammert (Alestorm, Stuck Mojo). All the right ingredients are there and so are the high expectations. Is the band able to deliver? With the title track of the album “Anhedonia” the tsunami of melodic thrashy progressive metal begins to find its way to our shores. A flood of beautiful heavy, groovy and complex tunes, combined with the dynamic and aggressive vocal from front man Rerekura, washes through the musical landscape. It’s hard to pick, if not impossible, some highlights among the 11 songs, all of them delivering something different unique to the album. Influenced by bands like Metallica, Nevermore and Dream Theater, this is a very unique act on the metal scene today. My first impression was that vocalist Rerekura had a similar aggressive sound as Hetfield (in his younger years with Metallica), but with much more control, emotion and dynamic. Add the tight and aggressive drumming style together with the dynamic, complex and crunchy guitar work by the team mates and you have a perfect cocktail here, served with a crystal clear production at the top of the best. The band just delivered one of the best progressive thrash metal albums since many years, and I hope we will not have to wait 4 years again for the next release. If yes, we can find comfort until then, by feeding our ears with this masterpiece. If you are a fan of thrash metal with a technical progressive edge, then you must add this precious metal gem to your collection. | ||||||||||||||||||
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