Originally founded as Terrormaze back in 1993, Australian band Teramaze play melodic progressive metal with a strong theme of Christianity running through their lyrics. With six full-length albums to their name, the most recent (2015’s her halo) also being the band’s Mascot Label debut, Teramaze draw upon a wide range of influences from Devin Townsend and Dream Theater to Queensryche and Pantera to deliver a beguiling and oft-enigmatic sound that is well-worth exploring.
Terramaze are clearly aiming for the epic with fight or flight, sweeping strings and rich piano tones greeting the listener before a more belligerent guitar riff is unleashed to push the track into heavier pastures. Built around thunderous percussion of Nick Ross, the mix allows the clean (and frequently harmonised) vocals of Brett Rerekura to cut neatly across the surface, the track a soaring and ambitious piece that opens the album on a high. Are we soldiers opens with a surprisingly retro-sounding synth patch (Jonah Weingarten), before heading into the realms of Dream Theater thanks to Dean Wells’ elastic riffing and Nick’s propulsive performance behind the kit. Musically impressive and yet catchy as hell, are we soldiers is a cracking track and a good example of Teramaze’s ability to weld prog structures to pop melodies with little compromise on either side. Things get heavier with control conquer collide, a dark, riff-heavy beast that lurks in the shadows, all minor-key harmonies, before a shimmering piano run take things in an unexpected direction that justifies the track’s expanded run time. A subtle industrial tinge underpins From saviour to assassin, before a supercharged riff takes it forward with considerable energy. Layers of vocals provide the track with its emotional core, whilst a fine solo offers a more traditionally ‘rock’ moment for air guitarists to enjoy. Another lengthy track rounds out the album’s first half in the form of Orwellian Times, an aptly-titled piece of social commentary that builds to a remarkably opulent climax.
Kicking off the album’s second half, the dense riffing and airy synth patches of monsters gives way to a strangely mixed, jazz-infused piece with clean guitars chiming out over the mix and Nick’s intense drumming taking the award for most dizzying performance on the album thus far. In contrast, weight of humanity is almost straight-forward by comparison, which gives Brett an opportunity to really let loose on the vocals, edging just enough grit into his tone to give the lyrics bite without heading into full-on metal territory. Opening as a ballad, fact resistant human soon adopts a tougher stance, with phased vocals and twinkling keys all adding to the feeling that Teramaze never do anything by halves. With a crushing riff that is slightly reduced in impact by an over-loud synth line, The one percent disarm nonetheless builds up quite a head of steam thanks to some blistering double-kick work and a subtly fx-layered vocal that does much to recall latter day Bring Me The Horizon before the band ramp up the aggression still further and plunge into a maelstrom of Pantera-esque riffing, complete with an uncharacteristically harsh vocal that brings the piece to a furious climax. The album concludes with the monstrous epic depopulate, a near-twelve minute exercise in blistering musicianship and earworm melodies that feels a fraction of its length and which brings this, the band’s most accessible offering yet, to an impressive and memorable close.
An intense and frequently exciting listen, are we soldiers is yet another impressive offering from the long-serving prog-metallers. A number of songs are exceptionally catchy and the musicianship is exceptional throughout. The only slight criticism is that the album is so relentlessly full-on that you long for a touch more light and shade, not so much within songs as across the album as a whole. However, on the whole, are we soldiers is another strong outing for Teramaze and it’s certainly recommended to fans of prog-metal. 8
