Verdict: Polish prog merchants attempt a modern take on prog metal
More info: www.unicornrecords.com , http://www.tao.freehost.pl/plyta1.html
The idea for TAO came about in 2003 when Adam Jurewicz (Guitars & vocals) and Robert Sztorc (dummer) were sitting around listening to and playing the music of Planet X, Tower of Power and Mike Patton. The band decided to create their own music. Since then Kamil Urbanski (keyboards) and Lukasz Adanczyk (bass) have been added to the band. The band recorded their debut album during the first half of 2005. The album was released independently, but was later picked up by Unicorn for this 2006 release.
In true prog style this is an eclectic collection of tracks. The opening track starts off with some heavy riffing with a tinkling piano sprinkled over the top, but drops down a gear to a laid back jazz groove before building up again and drifting out. Second track, "Forget It", like a couple of other tracks feature vocals. In general the tracks with vocals don't work as well as the others for me. The vocals are way down in the mix and don't make an impression. The best track with vocals is "Ifot" where they are less annoying. This tracks start off as D'Arcana but develops into a Dream Theater style. "Rhythm of Silence" stands out from the rest due to it's Red Hot Chilli Peppers style which kind of seems out of place on a prog record, but I guess we should commend the band for some lateral thinking.
As you can probably guess, this didn't quite work for me. Then again any band that sails in the same waters as Dream Theater often suffer in comparison in my book. The other elements such as the funk and jazz also tend to be very hit and miss with me also.
