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The Tea Club - Rabbit CD (album) cover

RABBIT

The Tea Club

 

Crossover Prog

3.85 | 107 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars The promising band of 2008 became a reality in 2010

A few days ago I received a PM from my friend "Dan McGowan" announcing me he was sending a copy of the second "THE TEA CLUB" release called "Rabbit", so immediately went to my archives and checked the review I made for their debut called "General Winter's Secret Museum" because after receiving and reviewing more than 400 albums, is hard to have all them in the memory.

While checking the review remembered how impressed I was with their debut release despite I'm not a fan of this style, so waited with expectation a new visit of the mailman with my copy of "Rabbit", and wasn't disappointed, I believe the band has given several steps forward recording a more mature and daring album, yes it's shocking and extremely dissonant through long passages, but hey...Breaking boundaries and causing a strong reaction in the listener is what Progressive Rock is about, and this guys have achieved this without loosing the sense of melody.

The album starts with "Simon Magus", in reference to "Simon of Gitta" or as most people remember him "Simon the Sorcerer", a well known heretic founder of the Gnostics, very complex concept to start with.

The lyrics are outstanding and the music places the listener in the limbo that separates a saint from a man who was described in the Acts of the Apostles as a sorcerer who bewitched people and served as inspiration for Goethe's Faust.

Complex, dramatic, strong, contradictory, with "Tom Brislin" in the keyboards (Played with Yes in the Magnification tour and the Symphonic DVD) creating an almost sacred atmosphere and the guitars adding a contradictory sound, while the vocals add the drama and passion of the profane, simply delightful.

"Diamonized" starts softer but not less aggressive, the vocals still confusing and sounding like a lament, but at the same time pleasant, combine perfectly with the almost chaotic guitars by the McGowan brothers and the keyboards in the background but the strong drumming by "Kyle Minnick" keeps the coherence, again amazing.

The weird "The Night I Killed Steve Shelley" follows the path of the previous songs, dark, mysterious complex, elaborate and with powerful vocals, this time Brislin adds some really scary sounds with the keyboard tat are complemented by the guitar, I honestly don't know where this guys are taking me, but I enjoy the trip, specially the chaotic final section, that sounds like delicate blend of "RADIOHEAD" and "FANTÔMAS". in other words, they manage to blend depression and complexity with extreme dexterity.

The acoustic and melodic "Royal Oil Can" is a relief after the violence and aggression we heard in the previous tracks, again the subtle atmosphere created by "Brislin" is simply delightful and the vocals are superb.

"Out of the Oceans" begins powerful and violent, but this time like if they were re-visiting their previous album, change the mood into an infectious form of Rock with less mystery but the same strength, good change

If it wasn't for the characteristic vocals and a couple of beautiful dissonances, I would believe "He's Like a Spider" is performed by another band,somehow Jazzy and much more fluid than all the previous tracks, another prove of the versatility of the band.

"Nuclear Density Gauge" is another weird song, it's the most complex and elaborate at this point of the album, the radical changes between calm and frenetic keep the listener interested and hooked, because you never know what's coming next.

"Tumbelweeds" is the track in which the Alternative/Indie influences are more obvious, there are hints of RADIOHEAD, but the sound is much more developed and again dissonant, a good introduction for "Astro", the epic that successfully closes the album with a variety of sounds and influences but the usual mysterious and melancholic at,atmosphere.

After checking all the songs carefully, I must say that I liked "Rabbit" even more than "General Winter's Secret Museum", the sound is more mature and defined, but most important, they are able to shock the audience, something any good Prog band should expect but few achieve, .

Sadly I can't rate Rabbit" with 4.5 stars because the system in Prog Archives doesn't allow this, so will go with 4 solid stars and wait for another release of THE TEA CLUB, one of the best bands of this new century.

Ivan_Melgar_M | 4/5 |

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