QUICKLY QUICKLY QUICKLY

To start off, I must say that everything about this album is stunning to me, from the compositions, to the musicianship, to even the incredible cover, which admittedly was part of the reason I was drawn to this album in the first place. The band blends the modern and classic prog together amazingly, having a very clear combination of symphonic and heavy prog, and then taking their influences to make something truly unique and mature. Each of the four songs on this album are of incredible quality, each filled with subtle nuances and beautiful melodies, backed up further by the production, which has the instrumentals all blend together in such a way that they each remain distinctive, while also providing incredible tone and atmosphere.

'Firebears' starts the album off strongly, with what is easily one of my favourite intros to any song, utilising fast paced drumming with a keyboard melody that is simply divine, already clearly displaying the way such energetic elements simply lend themselves to the particular beauty present in the album. One thing in particular that I really love about this is how despite the song being so long, it manages to all sound like one complete, coherent song, rather than a suite of smaller songs, which while I love some songs that do that, I do find it impressive when a band is able to pull off a massive epic that maintains the feeling that it is just one song. Parts in particular that I love here are the spoken word section, and the last 3 minutes, which produces a melody that simply blows me away. I'd go as far as to say that this is within my top 50 songs of all time. The middle 2 songs, 'The Eternal German Infant' and 'Mister Freeze' are both considerably less overtly complex, but both still are extremely high quality as well. 'The Eternal German Infant' features some quirky lyrics and decent melody overall. The band is more energetic and fun here, being light on the emotion and atmosphere, and instead focusing more on making something generally entertaining. I like the very strong symphonic elements present here, and the vocal harmonies being excellent. The vocals are very high quality, displaying emotion, range, and having an incredibly pleasant tone to them. 'Mister Freeze' feels like the complete opposite of the previous song, being extremely mellow and atmospheric, using the electric guitars and synths to create an amazing soundscape. The way it picks up slightly at the halfway point further improves it, in every respect, paving the way for amazing vocalisations and causing the listener to simply feel like they're drifting along with the music. 'I Shall Consume Everything' adds a significant layer of darkness and angst to their formula, incorporating slightly offputting elements such as the the three chord bassline and the gradual buildups throughout. This leads directly into some inharmonious guitar work and my favourite moment on the album, where Dan McGowan screams out "I knew you were gonna PULL THIS!" and has the song continue increasing in intensity.The album then ends with a section that progressively sounds more melancholy as it goes on, returning to the beauty that was present before.

This album is an absolute masterpiece, each of the four songs are incredible, full of subtleties and nuances, each contributing to the overall unique sound that The Tea Club has, while each having their own identity. The production is also stellar, with each instrument mixed incredibly to allow for more energetic moments without disrupting anything. The best thing is that while I find this album to be incredible, I still feel as if the band could further progress and improve, becoming even greater than this album shows.

Best songs: Firebears, Mister Freeze, I Shall Consume Everything

Weakest songs: While the album has no song that I find less than great, The Eternal German Infant is the weakest

Verdict: This album is simply incredible in basically every way to me, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a prog fan, classic or otherwise, as this album will almost certainly contain something you'll enjoy