TERAMAZE – Anhedonia

Anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities which are typically found enjoyable. For example, listening to a great Metal album could actually be depressing if you are diagnosed with this disorder.

Teramaze seems, for all intents and purposes, to be searching for a cure. They have created an extremely powerful album of Progressive and Thrash Metal which should cause the listener to experience many forms of pleasure.

Teramaze is a five piece outfit hailing from Melbourne, Australia. Anhedonia is the band’s third album. Musically, the songs delve into many different genres clearly influenced by some great classic artists. There is a very notable Prog Metal sound which is quite indicative of Dream Theater and Tool. They also contain elements of a solid Power/Thrash Metal sound which is reminiscent of bands like Nevermore and Symphony X. There are even slight tinges of Neo-Classical sounds as well. Needless to say, there is a good fusion of Metal built into this product. Fortunately, Teramaze is able to pull it off in a very seamless fashion due mostly to the outstanding strength of vocalist Brett Rerekura.

Rerekura has an extremely forceful voice and often sings in an intensified higher register. His vocals are most suggestive of Tool’s Maynard James Keenan. He has great capacity to integrate a smooth vocal line with an emotive scream which steers each track in a particular emotional direction. Rerekura clearly gives 110% of effort in each and every track, although the dual guitar speed riffs are highly prevalent, the vocals are the true hero of this album.

Emotion is a very key factor to the compositions on this album. Each track invokes an intense level of emotion based on either the vocals or the riffs, or a combination thereof. Being the primary genre of the album is Progressive, the tracks tend not to follow a direct theme and take many twists and turns. The downside to this formula is the album can be hard to follow if being listened to casually. For the listener to really grasp and fully admire the album, it requires full attention with no distractions. There is only one track which follows a “standard Rock” formula, which is “Through The Madness”. This track contains a very memorable riff and chorus line which stands out from the rest of the album. It’s a great track, and if there were two or three more songs like this, the album could have an even more effective overall impression.

Fans of Power and Prog Metal, especially fans of Tool and Nevermore who have been without many releases in several years will be sure to embrace Anhedonia. This album is produced well from a musical and lyrical standpoint. It becomes very easy to listen to repeatedly, and something new will be heard with each listen. It deserves merit as a quality album and should stand out for quite some time.