Australian progressive metal band Teramaze latest album Dalla Volta is a compilation containing some new tracks, some older tracks redone, older demo versions of other tracks and a cover, covering the history of the band and showing their progression.
Teramaze is going on their 25th year and Dalla Volta even has an updated version of the song “Shadows” from their 1998 release, Tears to Dust. From my count, the band has 10 full length albums going all the way back to 1995 with Doxology. Looking at the release history, the band took a bit of hiatus following Tears to Dust in 1998, not releasing another full length until Anhedona in 2012, but they’ve been relatively consistent in releasing albums every couple years or so since then, so definitely a band with a long history and listening to Dalla Volta, one can hear the fully developed sound of a veteran band.
Dalla Volta opens up with new tracks that includes the updated version of “Shadows”, here “Shadows II”. “Navigate in Solitude” opens things up with a slower, heavy riff that slows for the melodic clean verse section showcasing immediately the deep, smooth and strong vocals of Nathan Peachey, which are a perfect match for the music. The deep growled vocals make for a nice contrast and remind the listener that this is heavy music and are a nice touch. The rhythm section is tight, solid and suitably heavy. Production is perfect for the genre, allowing the vocals to come through clearly but not overly dominating and keeping the growled, screamed vocals more toward the quieter side of the mix until their turn to come through. The somewhat requisite keyboard/orchestral interlude in the song again highlights Peachey’s vocal abilities and works well as an intro to the guitar solos which are matched will with the song and show some restraint while remaining impressive and interesting.
The next two tracks are a bit of a contrast when listened together. “Chaos in the Way” is definitely a brighter sounding melodic track while “These Crystal Walls” has a darker feel to it and a bit more of a groove to the main riff in the verse sections. “Shadows II” is the updated version of the original song from the band’s 1998 release and in all honesty, compared to the new songs on the album, it does sound a bit dated in terms of overall structure and composition, but is still a solid song and does have some great guitar work. “The Heist” which was previously released as a single, shows the band shifting from their strong melodic metal to a more frenzied approach, with Peachey’s vocals delivered in almost a rap-like style versus the smooth singing vocals on the other tracks. I’m not a bit fan of the keyboard emphasis here or the overall mix and feel as it seems a bit thin compared to the rest of the album.
“Waves” and “Broken” are two reimagined songs from the band’s past as well but in this case are either just vocals and piano (“Waves”) or piano/keyboard/orchestration (“Broken”). I’m not a big fan of either, but “Broken” with the fuller arrangement works better for me. In any case these versions do give Peachey a chance to further impress with his vocal talents.
I do like the inclusion of the 2017 demos as compared to the new songs, they do show the progression of the band and though these are listed “demos”, the sound quality is probably better than one might expect given that label and there is some great musicianship on display, especially the guitar solos in “Are We Soldiers”.
Lastly as a bonus the band chose to cover the Phil Collins/Phillip Bailey classic “Easy Lover” and did manage to stay fairly close to the original if you can imagine metal guitars driving the song along. Vocals are pretty amazing in how close they are to the original…and yes the video is suitably cheesy and does feature some clips from the original.
Being new to Teramaze, I can really appreciate the collection of material on Dalla Volta, as it serves as a good introduction to the band. From my perspective, Teramaze reminds me a good bit of Evergrey in terms of style and approach to the songcraft, so for those looking for melodic progressive metal with a bit of an edge, Teramaze is worth checking out and Dalla Volta is where I would start.
Rating: 8.5/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
- Navigate in Solitude
- Chaos in the Way
- These Crystal Walls
- Shadows II
- The Heist
- Waves (Piano version)
- Broken (Piano version)
- Weight of Humanity (2017 Demo)
- From Saviour to Assassin (2017 Demo)
- Fight of Flight (2017 Demo)
- Are We Soldiers (2017 Demo)
- Easy Lover (bonus cover)
Band Members
Dean Wells –Guitars/vocals
Nathan Peachey – Vocals
Ander Cameron – Bass
Nick Ross – Drums
Chris Zoupa – Guitars/keyboards
Release Date: 27 April 2023
Record Label: Wells Music
Social Media: Website / Twitter / Bandcamp / Spotify
Video for “Navigate in Solitude”
Video for “Chaos in the Way”
Lyric video for “These Crystal Walls”
Video for “Easy Lover”