adg211288 Although Teramaze is getting towards celebrating twenty years since their 1993 formation, their 2012 album release Anhedonia stands as only their third studio album, their last being Tears to Dust fourteen years previously. Anhedonia itself has been long in the making (since 2009) and features the last recordings of drummer Julian Percy, who sadly died in 2009.

Teramaze is one of those bands that no matter where I look around the Internet everyone seems to have a different idea about what style of music these guys actually play. I’ve seen them considered traditional metal, progressive metal, thrash metal and power metal to name just a handful of tags I’ve seen attached to Teramaze. To these ears however the band has produced a thrash metal album in Anhedonia, but one with additional layers of melodic influence in both the music and vocals than the majority of the genre.

Personally speaking, I’m not a fan of the thrash metal genre mostly because of the vocal approach used by many of the bands, therefore Teramaze’s Anhedonia makes a nice change for me, making the album a much easier and enjoyable listen. However while that works for me the more invested thrash fan may miss the aggression that comes from the normal approach. Not to say that Anhedonia doesn’t have its aggressive riffs and even vocals, but they’re very evenly balanced with melodic elements. Calling this a melodic thrash metal album wouldn’t be wrong. So long as you’ve got a wide taste in metal though there is very little to dislike about Anhedonia.

The tracks here are pretty easy to get into and by the time I’m a few in the release has my full attention even though the band don’t really vary their formula a lot, the songs are that gripping that it ceases to matter once the album has infected you with its speedy riffs and powerful vocals courtesy of Brett Rerekura.

The final track, Ever Enhancing II, is the only real curveball, being an acoustic ballad. It only serves to highlight that the band can turn their hands into different styles though, and vocally Rerekura shines just as much as with the thrash metal. The acoustic guitars here are excellent as well, it’s definitely an unexpected highlight as the album and one of the few cases where ending on a ballad has worked for me.

Anhedonia is one of the biggest surprises of the year so far for me - a thrash metal album I can not only tolerate but highly enjoy. An exceptional grade rating is easily deserved for Teramaze and based on this release one can only hope that the next won’t be so long in coming.

8.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))

Time Signature Through the madness...

Genre: melodic thrash / power-thrash

Teramaze are branded as a progressive thrash band, and this description has also been applied to their latest effort "Anhedonia". Well, to be honest, I am not sure how progressive I think this album is. It definitely has a a lot of sophistication to it, and there are a couple of odd time signatures and other elements of finesse every now and then, but is that enough to make it progressive?

In any case, we are dealing with melodic thrash metal here - at times even describable as power-thrash. And melodic thrash which, in my opinion, is not only original, but also pretty damn good. The combination of melodic vocals, riffage which is at times melodic and at times aggressive but always sophisticated, and rock solid drums works incredibly well, which we hear already in the opening title track.

While grounded in melodic thrash metal, there are also elements from modern rock in general to be found on this album, and this influence is especially prevalent in Brett Rerekura's at times AIC-like vocals. In the big picture all of these elements fit neatly into the overall sound, as does the crisp and well defined production.

So, this is a very good work of melodic thrash metal, which I find inspiring and invigorating. There is a sad note attached here, though, as Julian Percy, who plays the drums on this album, died from heart problems in 2009 and thus never lived to see the release of "Anhedonia". But, given the sheer quality of the music and the artistic success that this album is, what better way to honor and commemorate Percy than through "Anhedonia"?

Fans of melodic thrash metal should definitely check out this release. It is aggressive but melodic and sophisticated. It is already an artistic success, but you can help make it a well-deserved commercial success, too.