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Canadian band The Tea Party have been away for ten years leaving a gap in the prog market for their Morrocan roll. They’re back now though, with The Ocean at the End, a new album to stake their claim back on the prog scene. It’s a return that is rather welcome on the basis of this album too and repeated listens lift this up with other great prog releases this year.
The thing with The Tea Party is that they always seem to have a lot going on and this new album is no different. From the opening Led Zeppelin referencing ‘The L.o.C’ they throw in tempo changes, crazy guitar signatures and the requisite Genesis style keyboards. It’s almost too much but finally settles into a groove.
This is followed by the much calmer ‘The Black Sea’, which is the first highlight of the album. A slow burning epic, it brings a cinematic feel and slips easily into emotive stadium rock territory. It’s never quite that simple though and the charge of riffs show heavier leanings.
A first sign of the reputed Moroccan feel starts ‘Cypher’, which then stutters along. It is ‘The Maker’ that truly lifts this album though as once again The Tea Party reach high emotional levels. A song which is spiritual in delivery it reaches another level, that it is surprising to find the rest of the album manages to keep up.
This is par for course now for the album that swings from anthemic ballads to more esoteric fare. It provides a fine balance and allows the music to breathe. One criticism that could be raised is that maybe it’s slightly overlong and some of the more jagged songs don’t quite gel.
This can all be forgiven for an album that features the brilliant ‘Black Roses’ and an even better title track, which is one of those songs designed to rip your heart out, screw it up and put it back in. When The Tea Party are good they can pretty much blow anyone out of the water.
It’s been a good year for emotive prog with first The Pineapple Thief and now this at times remarkable album. It’s demonstrative of the beating heart of prog at the moment and let’s hope that The Tea Party don’t leave it another ten years. Excellent stuff.
