• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

November 2024

• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

• Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
• Paralydium: Universe Calls
• Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
• Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
• All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
• Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

Teramaze: Esoteric Symbolism

Progressive Power/Thrash Metal

4.0/5.0

Website Facebook Twitter
Nightmare Records
by Craig Hartranft,  02.04.2014

At first I thought Australia's Teramaze may be moving in a slightly different direction on their fourth album, Esoteric Symbolism. On the first spin, it seemed as if they dialed back on the thumping thrash so prominent in the previous album. The songs are definitely heavy, but they sounded more melodic, and touched more by power metal. And it didn't seem that Brett Rerekura dropped in some harsh vocals.

Teramaze: shades of purple.

But listening again, notably to Line of Symmetry and Punishment By Design, the crashing thrash returns with a vengeance, especially in the latter song. Alternatively, something like The Divulgence, Esoteric Symbolism or In Vitro isn't so much thrash-like, but instead dense in sharp riffage and thundering drums, nearly to the point of wrestling the vocal arrangements and melody to the ground by the throat.

Yet Rerekura holds his own, likely being the single constant that holds the melody together throughout this album (and he does it without harsh vocals, thank you very much). That and Dean Wells' wickedly agile, innovative and soaring guitar solos. They are so interesting, it's the one thing you wait for in each song, no matter how hard the music may be clobbering your ear drums. In this sense, Esoteric Symbolism could be described more as a guitar-centered progressive power/thrash metal album. If like strong lead guitar work, this album is certainly for you. And, another good thing, there's a lot of it, like an hour and eighteen minutes of it. So be prepared for the long haul. Even with it's overwhelming riff density, Esoteric Symbolism is definitely a step forward for Teramaze.

Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism (Official Full Lyric Video)

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

With Esoteric Symbolism, Teramaze offers another barrage of dense power thrash riffage in their prog metal, but tempers it with melodic vocals and rousing leads.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]