(Power/Heavy Metal) [CD] Tad Morose - Revenant - 2013, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

It escapes me, but I am sure that it probably escaped plenty of others down the stretch, the reasons behind the musical silence of one of the heaviest Swedish Heavy / Power Metal bands, TAD MOROSE. With a name that I have never understood its true meaning, this band, which applied various of Progressive Metal attribute to its music in their early stage, ruptured the shackles around them and bombarded with a Teutonic / Scandinavian polished composure of onslaught that has been evident on PRIMAL FEAR / MORGANA LEFAY / BLOODBOUND / NOCTURNAL RITES / MYSTIC PROPHECY along with the Swedish sensitivity towards the distribution of melodic Metal. A decade following the robust “Modus Vivendi”, and TAD MOROSE have been slowly trying to retain their reputation after most of the band’s veterans, Christer "Krunt" Andersson and Peter Morén detached for the formation of the Power Metal band IMMORIA. With the release of the comeback album of “Revenant”, via the beast’s new label Despotz Records, the band presents three new members, two of the IMMORIA lineup: The soaring voice of Ronny Hemlin (ex-STEEL ATTACK) and the quality bass line of Tommi Karppanen (ex-MORGANA LEFAY). Just last year the band welcomed second guitarist, Kenneth Jonsson (TORCH), to their ranks.

Even after a 10 year time span, I guess that nothing has really changed within the TAD MOROSE musical attitude and mindset towards their legacy and being a boost of sheer riffery heaviness and a damn untamed straightforward approach. On the other hand, nothing negative about it, I detected various of closer British angles, somewhere in the alley JUDAS PRIEST, anywhere near Halford’s departing through the Ripper years, along with the HALFORD solo band. Ronny Hemlin has that Ripper’s voice antics and etiquettes, yet without the high register tones, and following several of the songs, it revealed a PRIEST vision right before me, which impressed me quite a lot. Furthermore, TAD MOROSE remained melodic, lurching with wonderful lead guitar licks and passionate harmonics, but also took a step closer to the current state of affairs within the Metal realm, adding several modern centered anecdotes like a few kick downs and several erudite notations for instance. What made “Revenant” more promising, to my taste, was the fact that the band’s riff based creed remained hard as stone, always clinging to toughness, no matter the tempo. Better still, how can one escape this kind of forcefulness and not bang himself to death? I assume that you would have to try it.

In the long run, “Revenant” isn’t a formal illustration of Metal’s innovation, however, nothing amidst my list of expectations out of this album included ingenuity. TAD MOROSE has one of the foremost fusions of a destructive rhythm guitar riffing supremacy along with incisive melodic methods and astute soloing efforts. Mainly, this band’s ultimate trait is to punch through one’s mind, catapulting Metal anthems as they go. The iron fist of “Beneath A Veil Of Crying Souls”, melodic staggering charger of “Follower” or the crooked chunky slow / mid tempo BLACK SABBATHian malice of “Dance Of The Damned”, the spacy Metallic force al’a NOCTURNAL RITES with a shrapnel of HALFORD surging through the spine of “Spirit World” and the miraculously spirited meaty hymn of “Absence Of Light”, these tunes ascertain the band’s past and present position as a force to be regarded with. “Revenant” might not be as monumental as the previous “Modus Vivendi”, back in the Urban Breed days, yet for a comeback release, it will become a pleasure dome for every riff infesting maniac and melodic Metal fanatic.

Review written by Lior "Steinmetal" Stein for www.metal-temple.com

Ronny Hemlin - Vocals
Christer "Krunt" Andersson - Guitars
Peter Morén - Drums
Tommi Karppanen - Bass
Kenneth Jonsson - Guitars