vote
7.5
- Bands:
TERAMAZE - Duration: 00:58:17
- Available from: 05/09/2026
Teramaze confirm themselves as an extraordinarily prolific band and in fact invariably release a new full-length, entitled “The Silent Architect”, which follows last year's “The Harmony Machine”.
As we have had the opportunity to explore in depth in the past, on the occasion of several of our reviews, the Australian band led by Dean Wells, although starting from their own style, loves to explore different genres and each album can almost be considered a story in itself, at least from this point of view, and this work is no exception.
The decidedly prog metal start of the title track seems to suggest a decisive return to this genre which has often characterized their musical production but, in fact, going forward with the tracklist, we find that the matter is not so simple.
The album is characterized by the presence of some tracks with a decidedly long duration: in addition to the title track, we refer to “The Invisible Countdown”, “Enemy In The Garden” and “Left In The Fire”, while another five have an average duration, around four minutes. Speaking of the latter, in some cases Teramaze opt for a very direct heavy rock: in particular, this is the case for “Mr.Crazy” and “Dust & Bone”; “Arrow” is definitely a pop rock piece, while “Ghost Hands” is the classic ballad; again, among these we mention “Doors Of Yesterday”, which starts lightly with voice and piano, and then reaches a crescendo.
With reference, however, to the other long-lasting tracks, beyond the song that bears the name of the album, we also find prog metal elements in “Enemy In The Garden”, while in the other cases the band opts to insert pop melodies in wide-ranging pieces, as Wells loves to do from time to time: this is certainly the case of “The Invisible Countdown”, but also of the final “Left In The Fire”, certainly one of the strong and most emotional episodes of the album. With regard to the latter, it should also be noted that the singing in certain passages even makes one think of Muse, but above all there is also a nice intermezzo with flamenco guitar.
In essence, with “The Silent Architect” Teramaze offer us a melodic and refined rock, which sometimes launches headlong into pop rock, other times hardens the sounds leading to prog metal: in short, a rather broad spectrum of sounds, perfectly consistent with the versatility to which Welss has accustomed us, always with the trademark of his guitar and, we could say, at this point, also with the voice of Nathan Peachey, once again confirmed and increasingly a founding element in the sound of the Australian group.
Let's say that the idea of mixing prog metal with pop risks being a bit risky and in our opinion is not entirely convincing: those interested in a more complex and sophisticated type of music might not necessarily find this type of approach pleasant and in fact this is not the side of Teramaze's sound that most attracts us.
However, the richness of the sound and the high quality of the arrangements must be recognised, which however does not correspond this time with as much commitment to the creation of the cover, simply white, with the writing in the center showing the title of the album and the name of the band. In short, not a great effort, but we can say that at least it leaves room for the imagination since, with the Teramaze, you never really know what to expect.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
