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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

T.A.O. - “The Abnormal Observations”

Reviewed by: Jerry Lucky
Genre: Prog Metal/Avant-Garde
Country: Poland
Language: English
Length: 45:00
Release Date: 2006
Band Members: Adam Jurewicz guitar, vocals Robert Sztorc drums, additional percusion, vibraphone
  Kamil Urbanski keyboards, piano Lukas Adamczyk bass
     
Track Listing: 1.)- Shruti (7:02)  
  2.)- Forget It (6:34)
  3.)- Se Am Nie (5:07)  
  4.)-Rhythm Of Silence (6:25)  
  5.)- Run Away (4:43)  
  6.)-I Fot (7:41)  
  7.)-Herebouts
     
The Review

I continue to be amazed at the variety of musical takes on the progressive rock genre. Certainly one of the biggest impacts the genre has incorporated is the influence of the heavy rock and metal influences. The prog-metal genre stands as testimony to that influence, but along the way there are what seems to be a myriad of degrees. One of those unusual ones came in the mail the other day, a Polish band by the name of T.A.O. who on their first CD release entitled The Abnormal Observations go from the hardest of prog-metal to a host of softer more unusual influences. Their take on the prog-sound borders on aggressive art-rock with a fair amount of Avant-garde thrown in. It’s a fascinating cornucopia of sounds and styles. ***

T.A.O. consists of Adam Jurewicz (guitar, vocal), Robert Sztorc (drums, additional percusion, vibraphone), Kamil Urbanski (keyboards, piano) and Lukas Adamczyk (bass). Vocals are sung in English with just the slightest hint of accent although it should be pointed out that three of the seven pieces are instrumental. Now as for the music, well it’s a strange mix of tempos and styles that you don’t often see in the combinations used here. One minute it’s aggressive, straight-forward metal-ish, but then stops, turns-on-a-dime and becomes sort of a herky-jerky transition segment before moving into a groove section which then becomes a little more proggy, then a little more arty, then finishes with a nice rock rhythm. It’s quite something to behold. Most of the songs, of which there are seven, are roughly six or seven minutes and most of them go through variations of what I’ve described above. Add in a few sound effects and you have some amazingly complex progressive rock compositions. Just when you think T.A.O. is a heavy prog-metal band they fool you into thinking they’re really more about angular Avant-garde rock, but then they change again into major-chord artiness. The fact is they’re a mix of all the above. The more you listen to The Abnormal Observations the more you hear the complexity of what goes into each of these power-packed compositions. ***

For a first-time release T.A.O. have packaged a ton of chops, great musicianship and unusual musical moments into a jam-packed 45 minutes of music. I can’t remember the last time I heard a CD that made so much use of musical influences to create something so unique. The Abnormal Observations is quite an amazing first time entry into the progressive rock world. If you enjoy your prog with an under-current of guitar crunchiness then this will be right up your alley, however if you just want to hear something refreshingly different you too will want to look into T.A.O. and The Abnormal Observations. ***

 

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