With progressive music, there’s a fine line between palatable boundary-pushing and Dream Theater-esque overkill. It’s a divide that bands all too often drift towards the latter side, but on ‘Her Halo, Melbourne’s Teramaze have managed to retain some sense of gravitas.
It’s a conciseness that allows Teramaze to thrive. For an album where only one of the eight tracks drops below five minutes, ‘Her Halo manages to avoid spiralling out of control too often. Even thirteen minute-long opener ‘An Ordinary Dream (Enla Momento)’ with its various twists and turns remains anchored down thanks to Nathan Peachy’s beautifully nuanced vocals.
As masterful as the actual musicianship is (and it does very occasionally push on virtuosic), Peachy remains the star here. He has a phenomenal range that is displayed throughout, acting as the sweetness weaving its way across chugging, complex musical tapestries as on ‘Out Of Subconscious’ or ‘Delusions Of Grandeur’.
Crucially though, ‘Her Halo’ is utterly accessible. Where prog bands tend to get bogged down with chiselling out the most complex fret gymnastics possible, Teramaze have created the convergence point between the complex and the accessible here, and it does them a world of good. This is prog at its most compelling and listenable, something which is no easy task by anyone’s standards.
4/5
‘Her Halo’ by Teramaze is out now.
Teramaze links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Luke Nuttall(@nuttall_luke)
