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The Tea Party - The Edges Of Twilight CD (album) cover

THE EDGES OF TWILIGHT

The Tea Party

 

Crossover Prog

4.33 | 123 ratings

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Conor Fynes
Prog Reviewer
4 stars 'The Edges Of Twilight' - The Tea Party (8/10)

While not having the same 'essential classic' quality as did the band's second album 'Splendor Solis', The Tea Party return with yet another excellent album here. 'The Edges Of Twilight' shows the band's sound taking a more modern twist, treading away from the highly Led Zeppelin-influenced sound. Although the band has changed up their sound here though, they have retained many of the same elements that made them an exciting listen in the first place, most notably their dives into world music. While 'The Edges Of Twilight' may not have the same sense of cohesion as 'Splendor Solis', I do not find myself disappointed in the slightest by this chapter in The Tea Party's history, and to fans of progressive rock, this might just do the trick.

Instead of an almost purely classic rock sound, The Tea Party now steers their course into something that sounds alot more like modern alternative rock, with the Middle-Eastern tinge still intact. On top of the guitars taking a more grungy sound to then, Jeff Martin's vocal style seems to have moved in turn, moving a little farther from the Jim Morrison soundalike style he had earlier. With all of these developments in their sound though, they do seem to have lost the endearing vintage sound that I found myself being really drawn to. Luckily, The Tea Party's sense of songwriting is intact, as is their commendable skills of performance.

There are some exotic rockers here like 'The Bazaar' and 'Silence' which can get the blood pumping, while having some proggy charm to them that one might not typically associate with energetic music. In other words, for some of the more memorable tracks on the album, think of Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir', with a few more spoonfuls of caffeine. Barring that, The Tea Party also shows their blues sounds here alot, with songs like 'Drawing Down The Moon' and 'Turn The Lamp Down Low', which are usually tastefully done, but of course tend to follow some very overdone conventions of the blues genre. The lyrics on these blues tracks are also fairly weak, as they are for much of the album. Fortunately though, the lyrics- which are still incredibly derivative of Zeppelin- are the only weak part of the equation here, and the rest of the music is quite well done.

'The Edges Of Twilight' is not the best output from this band, but The Tea Party does show some interesting developments here. While I cannot say I'm in favour of all of them, the fact that they are not content to simply remain in one place is a sure sign of a great group, and I am excited to hear what other developments they made later in their career.

Conor Fynes | 4/5 |

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