Tempered with enough majesty and melody to make it quite approachable.
Hailing from Norway, Teodor Tuff’s Seventies-styled self-titled debut album appeared in 2009, but a succession of line-up changes has seen them change direction dramatically, and they describe their new sound as incorporating Progressive Metal with Classical, Opera and Middle Eastern Folk. Sounds like a mixed bag, but it’s tempered with enough majesty and melody to make it quite approachable.
Opener ‘Godagar’ is a highly Operatic choral chant, which leads into first track proper ‘The Last Supper’, which twists and turns along a powerful riff, but without getting too intricate. Decent enough start, but things improve dramatically with the more commercial ‘Addiction’, mid-tempo, simplistic and melodic in style with a big chorus, with powerhouse singer Terje Harøy accompanied by female vocals courtesy of Ida Haukland. ‘Mountain Rose’ picks up the pace again, but still melodic with another big chorus. ‘Hymn (For An Embattled Mind)’ is more balladic in style, but maybe a little too pompous for its own good.
The constantly changing tempo of ‘Delusions Of Grandeur’ bring to mind Dream Theater, while ‘Heavenly Manna’ is another duet, maybe a little pompous again but enjoyable, especially when the barrage of guitar solos kick in around the four minute mark – one contributor being Annihilator’s Jeff Waters. ‘Deng’s Dictum’ is mid-tempo pomp, but with slightly odd lyrics, ‘Lullaby’ is a decent power ballad, ‘Mind Over Matter’ is another commercial number with a chugging riff, and ‘Tower Of Power’ is slow, moody and dramatic, but highly addictive.
I did get excited when I loaded the CD into my iPod and found the 23-minute hidden track ‘Ghost Track’, however, disappointingly it’s just 23 minutes of silence apart from some spoken words at the end. Really, what is the point? This aside, ‘Soliloquy’ is well worth a look.
Ant Heeks
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