Another vastly under-appreciated band, To-Mera comes to us from England with some Hungarian roots. To-Mera plays a somewhat unusual brand of technical progressive metal in that the characteristic lengthy songs and frequent time changes are colored by a overall gothic metal tone set primarily by the soprano vocals of talented Hungarian singer and front-woman Julie Kiss. Equally unexpected are the occasional jazz interludes, solo piano and other compositional left turns that come out of nowhere from time to time in their music. I first heard this band in 2006, shortly after the release of their debut album Transcendental, and fell in love with them right away. Not only is their music inventive and unique, they play it impressively.
To-Mera's second album, Delusions, was released not long after the first and picked up where the debut left off. If anything, it's more adventurous than Transcendental, with appearances by saxophone and bass clarinet, more frequent and jarring twists and turns and more ambitious songs, with the shortest clocking in at just a bit under six minutes. Here's the opener, "The Lie", which gives a pretty good idea of what to expect from them should you give any of their other work a listen. The tight, dry guitar and drum sound are characteristic, as are the spacey, wandering vocals and keyboards. As challenging as the first couple of minutes are, it's just after the 2:00 mark that things start getting really weird, including the guitar solo which begins about a minute later and then the pseudo-orchestral section around 5:00. An interesting and engaging song from a really unique and enjoyable band.
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