In the age of myspace, many bands promote their music on the site in
the hopes of getting a major deal. However, many of the bands are
nothing more than mere sound fillers. One of the few bands that manage to
break from that herd of bands is To-Mera. The group, which consists of
members from England and Hungary, recently signed to Candlelight Records
on the strength of the myspace promotion. The end result is their
debut full length Transcendental, which should elevate the band even
higher.
When one looks at the construction of the band with Julie Kiss on
vocals, the expectation is that the band's sound will be similar to
Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, and other gothic metal bands that
use female vocals. Once the music for Then Blood kicks in, those
expectations go out the window. The first two tracks, Traces and Then Blood,
offer a hint of what the rest of the album will sound like, while the
third track, Dreadful Angel, cements what the band is truly about. On
all the tracks, the sound clearly shows its influences of Opeth,
Porcupine Tree, and Dreram Theater, and the last I checked, those were bands
with a definite progressive music sound. For first time listeners, this
will come as a complet surprise, considering that Julie Kiss' vocals
are along the lines of Sharon Den Adel and Anneke Van Giersbergen. Even
more surprising is how well To-Mera combines its influences into one
rather enjoyable listen complete with unexpected tempo changes and a drum
solo during a couple of songs. Musically, as a whole, everything comes
out rather smoothly, although there are instances where the tempo
changes seem rather abrupt, thus throwing the listener for a loop. The
vocals do not really dominate the proceedings, nor do they fade into the
background. In fact, the vocals are above average, which is good enough
because the music is clearly the star of the album.
To-Mera's first full length is exactly what the press release says it
is: ambitious, epic, and forward-thinking. It is rather amazing that a
band that gained most of its fans through myspace can captivate the
fans through its music in an age where image seems to be the order of the
day. Transcendental is an album of many talents that must one day be
discovered and To-Mera is a band that should be able to be mentioned in
the same breath as Opeth in the future.
