UMUR "Heed to the Voices" is the debut full-length studio album by New Zealand, Auckland based alternative rock/metal act The Symphony of Screams. The album was originally independently released in 2008 (only in New Zealand) but saw an international reissue through Triple A Records in 2012.

The music on "Heed to the Voices" is heavy alternative rock. When the band are darkest and most heavy they remind me slightly of Alice in Chains and when they are more rock oriented an act like Stone Temple Pilots (and maybe a little Pearl Jam too) comes to mind. The focus is predominantly on the strong vocals performed by Te Matera Smith, but especially some of the heavier riffs are pretty powerful too. The rhythm section gets the job done, but don´t play much out of the ordinary.

The material are generally well written and quite catchy, which means that the tracks are for the most part instantly memorable. Sometimes that also makes them a bit predictable though, but that´s not a major issue. "Heed to the Voices" features 13 tracks and a full playing time of 63:20 and although the standard is relatively high throughout, I still think the album as a whole could have prospered from a shorter running time.

The sound production is organic and at times features an almost "live in the studio" sound, and that suits the music well. This is basically heavy riff laden rock´n´roll and a more polished sound would probably take away some of the bite that is otherwise one of the album´s strengths. Upon conclusion "Heed to the Voices" is a pretty strong debut album by The Symphony of Screams and it should appeal to fans of some of the above mentioned acts. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

Kev Rowland Imagine if you will a primary school fete, where parents have been getting involved to raise as many funds for the school as possible. We have all attended many of these in our lives, but the one at Wainui school the other month was rather different. Here the suggestion had been made that they ought to have some bands playing, and charge for admission. One of the guys behind this was record label boss and producer Te Matera, who also plays guitar with TSOS. Given that many of the acts that afternoon are signed to Triple A, and that Te Matera was running the sound desk most of the day (having provided it and virtually everything else free of charge), it was only fitting that TSOS found themselves pounding out grunge in broad daylight. It was great to see the kids running around and having so much fun, but some of their parents weren’t quite sure what was going on!

The debut album by TSOS was originally released in 2007, with Te Matera on guitar and vocals (previously with Sundog in the UK), Russell Hansen guitar/vocals (ex-8 Ft Sativa, Hollow), Karl Moore bass/guitars (ex-Hollow) and Mike ‘Bones’ Coney on drums. Although their sound is based very much in grunge metal, there is actually a lot more going on and Te Matera likes to describe them as grunge prog – I wouldn’t quite go that far, but I can certainly understand where he is coming from, especially if you treat the term ‘progressive’ as a way of thinking and of bringing together different ideas and genres as opposed to sounding like another Genesis clone.

Both Te Matera and Russell provide lead vocals, sometimes singing as a hardened emotional duo, and at others letting the other take the spotlight, while in Karl they have a bassist who is actually a better guitarist than either of them so they let him shine as well (Karl really wanted to join the band, but they already had two guitarists and needed a bassist so he took the job – when they play live he mostly plays bass, but the other two also take turns so that he can show what he can do with six-strings as well). This is a very polished album, with small interludes here and there, and enough breaks and dynamics to allow them to really let loose when they want to with maximum effect. This album made such an impact when it was released that they were the top placed NZ band at Rock 2 Wellington in 2008, where they supported the likes of Alice Cooper, Kiss and Ozzy. I’m not a major fan of grunge, but I really like this. www.aaarecords.com/Symphony-of-Screams/