UMUR "Teabag" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Teabag. The album is a self-released affair from 2001 and it turned out to the sole album release by Teabag before they disbanded. Teabag was founded by drummer Norm Leggio and guitarist Steve Cox as a consequence of Psychotic Waltz disbanding after the tour supporting "Bleeding (1996)". Initially they set out to play a more simple and stripped down metal style, but after a few years they returned to a more progressive inclined music style.

So while there are other musical elements than progressive metal in the music (I hear quite a few nods toward 90s Seattle rock), this is progressive metal through and through. Not of the most complex kind, but still adventurous and technical enough to be called progressive metal. The 8 tracks on the 36:52 minutes long album are all well composed with powerful rhythm structures, adventurous melody lines, and enough sections that go beyound the vers/chorus structure to keep surprising the listener. While this ultimately sounds very little like Psychotic Waltz, there are a couple of traces in especially the lead guitars, that point in that direction and fans of that band might find Teabag at least of some interest.

Lead vocalist Ron Lerma has a rather distinct sounding voice and vocal style. He can hit the high notes as well as sound a bit more raw and agressive when that is needed. He is not always pleasant to listen to though, as it sounds like he is trying to hit notes that his voice isn´t capable of. In other words he sounds awfully strained at times. Most of the time though he delivers a both convincing and skillful vocal performance.

The band are well playing and the sound production is decent taking into consideration that this is a self-financed release. So even though my blood isn´t exactly boiling while I listen to the album, it´s still a quality release deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.