The Metal Resource – mauce.nl

Just like you can tell extreme death metal by the unreadable font used in the band logo, you can usually pick out the progressive metal albums by looking for an album cover with abstract, often geometric shapes and titles containing “big” words.  You know, the kinds of words that you seldom use in a sentence often because you are not 100% sure what they actually mean.  So, looking at Esoteric Symbolism by Teramaze, I definitely went into the listening experience expecting certain elements and style and I my expectations were met, but there was so much more than what I expected.

Oddly enough, there is a lot written about Teramaze, especially after their epic last release Anhedonia in 2012, which was widely appreciated by the metal community, but finding out the typical details about the band is not so easy.  From the research I’ve compiled, they formed back in 1994, and list Melbourne and Victoria, Australia as home.  Esoteric Symbolism is their fourth full-length album with Doxology (1995) and Tears to Dust (1998) preceding the aforementioned Anhedonia.  The band apparently started out as Terrormaze and changed to Teramaze as the result of adopting Christianity, which also led to a shift in lyrical focus and overall mission.

Having never heard of Teramaze, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  On the surface, I saw progressive metal and a somewhat daunting review task as the album in nearly 80 minutes long, meaning songs were around six minutes long on average.  When you’re used to punk songs blasting through start to finish in 2 minutes or so, this can seem like an eternity.  So, before I psyched myself out, I just fired up the album. “All Seeing Eye” starts things off similar to a lot of metal albums of late, basically an instrumental intro track.  In this case however, the first half is primarily keyboards and atmosphere setting and the second half is full band with the keyboards providing an accent to the sound, tying it together nicely.  I can’t help but hear some guitar tones much like those on Operation:Mindcrime by Queensryche.  The overall sound is full and warm and while guitars are definitely the focus, the bass and drum work is very much present and important to the overall sound.  Similar to many progressive metal albums, Esoteric Symbolism is a concept album of sorts as well, but much like their guitarist Dean Wells did in an interview, I’m not going into details around what the concept is as that is something the listener should figure out.

“Line of Symmetry” introduces the vocals of Brett Rerekura, which are incredibly smooth and powerful.  Throughout this song and others, there is some great guitar work that simply fits within the songs.  So often in metal, the guitars dominate and solos become the focus of the song and sometimes the sound of the band, but with Teramaze, every instrument has its role to play and everything fits together to create an impressive soundscape.  Production quality and mixing are exceptional and fit the genre.  Tones are warm and inviting and a bit melancholy, vocals are clear, and every instrument can be distinctly heard when you focus but if not looking for one in particular, they blend together nicely.

“Punishment by Design” speeds things up a bit and adds some almost thrash elements to the sound, making it probably my favorite song on the album.  Melodic vocals abound, but are complemented by some raspy whispering and shouted sections.   While parts of the song are at breakneck speed, other sections are much slower and calmer with some keyboards and effects thrown in to provide atmosphere.  Listening to the album, I can especially appreciate the crafting of the songs.  Despite the combinations of somewhat disparate styles within a given song, everything fits and feels as if that is the way it should be.  There are no missteps, even when the songs go from calm to ferocious.

This is one of those albums that works equally well listening to it in its entirety or in small doses.  The songs are strong enough to the point where you can start it at any point and play it through from there.  Granted seventy-nine minutes is a long time to listen but this is one of those albums you can hit play and then just forget about having to deal with it for a while, you can just sit back and enjoy.  Metal fans will enjoy this and those who lean more toward the hard rock spectrum will also enjoy this.  I was expecting a “typical” progressive metal album, which as mentioned earlier, didn’t thrill me a great deal.  What I actually listened to was an album with elements of thrash, melodic death, and power metal as seen through a progressive metal lens.

Rating: 8.5/10

Written by John Jackson

Tracklist:
1. All Seeing Eye
2. Line of Symmetry
3. Transhumanist
4. Bodies of Betrayal
5. Parallels – Dual Reality
6. Spawn
7. Punishment By Design
8. Dust of Martyrs
9. The Divulgence Act (CD ONLY TRACK)
10. Esoteric Symbolism
11. Order Out of Chaos
12. Darkest Days of Symphony
13. In Vitro

Band Members:
Dean Wells – Lead/Rhythm Guitars/Backing Vocals
Brett Rerekura – Vocals
John Zambelis – Guitar
Dean Kennedy – Drums
Luis Eguren -Bass Guitar

Record Label: Nightmare Records, April 2014