TRANSCENDENTAL

To-Mera is a young band coming from United Kingdom that plays a very technical and avant-garde form of progressive metal with enchanting female vocals. Their influences go from jazz to death/black metal (no harsh vocals at all, though) with some symphonic elements here and there.

This album has a very dark and 'dreamy' mood that fits perfectly with Julie's lyrics. There aren't too many technical bands able to create such an overwhelming atmosphere. The production is almost perfect: powerful and crystal clear. Most of the songs are quite complex and they often surprise the listener with lots of tempo changes. "Phantoms" is one of the most amazing tracks, containing an incredibly beautiful mellow part in the middle that suddenly turns into death metal aggression near the end. Some fantastic death metal riffs also appear at the end of "Dreadful Angel" and "Parfum", which contains some nice tribal percussion and a wonderful piano intro as well, as I mentioned above. Jazz influences are obvious in "Obscure Oblivion" and "Dreadful Angel". Even the album intro "Traces" is worth mentioning, as it might be the best intro I've ever heard, featuring a wonderful guitar solo in the vein of Riverside. But the most special thing about this album is the ending track "Realm of Dreams". Beautiful, intense, melancholic, emotional. it could only be compared to Opeth. I cannot imagine a better ending for the album as I cannot imagine a better title for this song either.

"Transcendental": a work of art coming from a very young band that will bring a lot of glory to the fans of this genre. It's easily one of the best progressive metal albums I've heard in quite a long time. Recommended for any fan of technical, forward-thinking music with an intense emotional feeling.

4.5 stars which I round up to 5 for being a debut album.