TERA MELOS

Hailing from Sacramento, Tera Melos formed in 2004, releasing this, their rarely self-titled, generally untitled debut LP, in 2005. The album art here chosen, with its charmingly ugly script font, is likewise less familiar to me. Fronted by the so-Cali experimentalist Nick Reinhart, Tera Melos here features still-current founding bassist Nate Latona, in these early days (the first 4 years or so) drummer Vince Rogers, and, leaving just a year(?) following this release (in late-'06), second guitarist Jeff "The Worm" Worms. I'd've happily made up "The Worm" if it weren't for a very real 17 year old PunkNews.org article announcing his departure from the band. Untitled strikes me now--good Lord, like 10 years since my last listen-thru(?!)--as a mathematical Noise Rock album: a harsh and challenging listening experience. It's also before any use of (standard) vocals by them. Partially-realized half-truths above, but regardless its celebration here and by friends is warranted. Readier than ever, I'm thrilled to be here.

Our untitled debut before us is perfectly fitted with 8 practically untitled tracks. Our first is "Melody 1", the shortest of all at just over a minute's length. Get your motors goin' with this one, a soft number featuring the signature electro-noodling provided by Nick's plethora of delaying and reverberating (sometimes alien) guitar pedals (it's magic, it's alchemy). More familiar to me is "Melody 2", at first a hurried Math Rock number with memorable, super-wonky chord stabs. Please don't count it out haha. Beautiful melodies, truly, ideas from which seem to have developed into some of the great numbers off Drugs to the Dear Youth (2007) and Patagonian Rats (2010) to follow. Likewise, this builds on a well-established Math Rock foundation, harking back to Don Caballero, and reminding me of Tera Melos's contemporaries Giraffes? Giraffes! (whom I likewise highly recommend). Over a lengthy ambient conclusion, percussion seems to include the battering of a set of kitchen cutlery; flatware, as it were, being rhythmically thwacked from across the room. It's awesome, frankly. Onto the next one, "Melody 3" perfectly rides #2's coattails, with now-classic tap-arpeggios. Nothing to really write home about here, though; still, purty enough.

Up next, you guessed it(!), it's "Melody 4"! And we are back into the more discordant and wild side of Math Rock (still nowhere near as noisy as my terrible memory made it out to be), but basically just here at the start. Fascinating to me, the melodies so melodious here (in a genuine way), I hear major influence specifically on Emo-Pop 2-piece powerhouse Origami Angel (masters of discord and power, also like that aforementioned other 2-piece, G?G!). On the other side of the coin, in more notably progressive territory, dare I say it sounded like The Most at times. This should come as no surprise to those aware that Math Rock has had a word to say, a firm footing, throughout much of Emo's now ~40 year history. So, through all its colors, "4" rings loudly as Emo, Post-Hardcore more broadly, and the avant-garde, somehow neatly wrapped up into a single, tasty package. "Melody 5" is the second longest at nearly 9 minutes, featuring some wordless yelling, and robotic murmuring. A great example of what feels like instrumental storytelling, everything packs a punch, from the more emotive and evocative, to the heaviest slams. Nearing minute 6 is a keyboard melody which I was convinced briefly was The Office theme.

Vaguely recalling "Melody 6", some of the best of the melodies can be found herein. It's a forward drive. It's also beautiful, in my opinion. Again, remember the very relevant post-hardcore influence of this band; Don C., Faraquet, Slint all seem relevant to this discussion in their own ways. "Melody 7" feels like an appropriate follow-up to "6", likewise more clearly melodic, straightforward even. Very very cool track. In a sort of Shoegaze fashion, more of Nick's vocals can actually be heard hear as well, but it's completely buried in the mix, contributing to the composition, as vocals are wont to do. With a super heavy bridge, the return is a triumph, however brief (like a minute to the end haha). Finally, for all the marbles, is the whopping 29-minute "Melody 8". This is the 'moment' on the album where all of my past fears and confusions regarding noise resided. It is relentless, and I had to resist turning it down (since I thought my levels were pretty alright up until). Nick's guitar screams and wails. Nate's bass drones on, sometimes dropping out completely, sometimes warming up the chaos from behind. Vince on the drums just tears through it all (they couldn't have found a better replacement than in John Clardy). I'm knowingly 'new' to Jeff; he's killing it, too, obviously. There's some random piano jammed in here. We get some nice alone time in an eerie, liminal arcade. I'm not sure what else there is to say here, as it's really best to experience these sorts of musical adventures yourself. Helluva way to close out an album of any kind.

The band formed as a result of the breakup of No Regard in the Sacramento, CA neighboring city of Roseville. After its demise, members Nick Reinhart (guitar, vocals, programming) and Nathan Latona (bass) started TERA MELOS in 2004 and soon recruited guitarist Jeff Worms and drummer Vince Rogers. While the band has existed as a trio in recent years, this debut album displays the more complex sound they wove together as a quartet before Worms jumped ship in 2006.

The band spent an entire year practicing before playing its first live gig and recorded this eponymously titled debut album during that time which consists of eight tracks simply and ironically titled "Melody," since the nerdy math rock presented here is about as non-melodic as you could ever desire. Despite the focus on the strangely displayed irregular drumbeats and the dangerous hyperactive syncopated guitars, the band excels in creating a varied stylistic approach that creates a knotty tapestry of strange sounds resulting in a rather pleasant sum of the parts.

TERA MELOS does a great job in showing how math rock is both related to hardcore punk as well as the ebbs and flows of post-rock. While the former is more reminiscent of the choppy antics of the Minutemen rather than the jaunty distortion of Discharge, the band succeeds in cranking out some seriously metallic cacophony from time to time through the jittery flow of the first seven tracks, however the post-apocalyptic soundtrack to hell resides at the end of the album with a 29 minute noise jam that is the musical equivalent of lava erupting from an angry volcano ready to lay waste to the world around. Comparisons to noise bands like Borbetomagus and Supersilent have been made.

The best word to describe TERA MELOS' debut offering is surreal. This album wends and winds all over the place but yet has a logical thread of continuity to it as well at least up til the final pyroclastic flow of sonic dystopia. The guitars are generally characterized by a clean vibrant sound that finds pleasant tones twisted and contorted into strange irregular shapes that somehow find themselves knotted up into tufts of sonic constipation but the band never stays put for too long and finds as many ways of releasing the tension as it does building them into crescendoes that occur at irregular intervals.

While the final "Melody" that swallows up half of the album's real estate may be a bit too much for most, even hardcore math rockers, the first half of the album is about as cool as a cucumber of a nerdfest as math rock can get. Personally i love the utter differences of the two halves of the album with the freeform noise rock antics of the second half creating a startlingly bizarre world of unpredictability.

I've truly never heard another math rock band that does it quite like TERA MELOS but then again there are many bands i've yet not encountered. For my money though, this eponymous debut album is quite the wild ride that keeps things stimulating through its entire demented run and if you're seeking a truly demanding and thoroughly exhausting musical workout that's not in the metal universe then this will satisfy those cravings for sure.

I have known about Tera Melos for a while, but they were only recently brought back to my attention by another fan of experimental, free-thinking music. In fact, those two terms are ones I would first use to describe the music of this Sacramento-based band. Although Tera Melos are a post-rock band, or math rock, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it, there is a much more adventurous spirit in their music than the typical act of the genre that I'm used to hear. While Tera Melos would go to even further lengths of experimentalism in their music with further albums like 'Drugs To The Dear Youth', the self-titled debut meets an agreeable mix of pleasant sounds and unconventional writing.

Like many post/math rock acts, Tera Melos is almost entirely instrumental, and I can only imagine how someone would manage to fit vocals into this music. 'Tera Melos' is a very technical album, and while there are plenty of mellow guitar tones to enjoy on the album, the songwriting is like a tornado, picking up virtually everything it can get within its grasp, and run with it. Each of these tracks are called 'Melodies', an ironic name for the fact alone that most of these tracks have very little in the way of hooks or memorable melodies. Instead, each of these are chapters in a discordant, turbulent journey. Although Tera Melos never reaches the heaviness of metal, much of this music gets distorted and chaotic. To be honest, there are times on the album where things get a little too crazy and haphazard, and by the end of the album, it becomes that much less of a shock to hear the musicians constantly burst from mellow post-rock to pseudo-grindcore. Both the heavy and lighter elements of the band are highly impressive, although the band's forte is with their technical sensibilities.

'Tera Melos' is about as challenging as post-rock will get, and softer-leaning fans of the genre will probably turn their noses in disgust when they hear how bloody manic this thing gets. As someone who has long been looking for something fresh in my post-rock intake, 'Tera Melos' does the trick. Viciously technical, discordant, and just a little bit beautiful.

The whole album sounds like random guitar tapping and just fast drum playing, like there is no sense behind it all. Once in a while, it sounds like they go in into a well understood section, but then it all comes crashing back down into nonesenseville.

Many of my friends tell me this is great and that this is real music and after all the listens I still cannot figure out what they like about this album which is musical gibberish. Technically, theband is fantastic, but musically there is no point to the songs and just sounds like messed up sounds.

The only things that are partially good are parts of The Werewolf and Ben, especially near the end, where the drums get a bit funky, just for a little while, and 40 Rods To the Hog's Head, who's opening sounds not as messed up as the other tracks.

Apart from the music, the album is very poorly produced and mixed! It sounds like they put no effort whatsoever into mixing and just released it into the wild.

Overall, I really do not like this album, but it has it's very small moments, and I have to agree that technically it is very well made. Because I'm generous, I'll give it 2/5 stars.

Melodic songs (something between brit-pop and The Beatles legacy) have strange structures, unusual rhythms and scratching guitars inclusions. By it's aesthetics and common atmosphere this album could not be classified as math rock at all. It's more radical avant wing of indie rock.

Combination of chaotic music and pop-beat vocals are quite original. Songs are not catchy or pleasant, and will hardly attract prog purist for sure. Interesting release for fans of unorthodox avant indie though.

The sound is unexpected for a prog band and it did not really hook me in. I was not impressed at all with any of the tracks.

1. Meant For You is a Beach Boys cover with a very pseudo punk sound. Ramones or Clash come to mind with math rock estranged rhythms. Not really my taste at all.

2. Koka Kola is an interesting homage to the wonderful life adding drink. A cover from clash and it sounds like it but not as good as the punk progenitors.

3. Pixies cover version of Tame is ok. Perhaps the best track on this EP. Very strong bass line, weird rhythms, short n sweet like the other tracks.

4. Weezer's Blast Off is given some rather strange treatment here. Sliding guitar played passionately, heavy sound, with Beach Boys meets Ramones type vocalisations, quirky mid section with vocaphone style guitar. It slows at the end and has spaced out guitar twiddles, indescribable atmosphere, and a bit trippy.

5. The Polaris cover of Hey Sandy ends the EP. Jangly guitar, vocals with harmonies, punk sound, same as the others.

Best thing about this is its a short EP. I did not take to this punked out crashing brand of music. In summary, I did not like this but I can see why some will. It is not my style of music and I cannot rate higher than a 1 star as I would never bother listening to this a second time. The production is so thin and its too raw to give credit to. The musicianship is nothing special nor are the vocals. The band perhaps are finding their way but this is not a great way to be introduced to them.

All the songs are basically gems, with the centerpiece of all of them being the amazing guitar riffing and technicality. If you watch some of their videos, you see the lead guitar player tapping away to form the melody, and you're just in shock as to how such technical stuff can make such beautiful music. Polyrythmic drumming is also a math rock essential, and this band does it great. The drummer is so furios the whole time, you may question how he dosent pop a blood vein, playing as fast and technical as he does. The only song I have a beef with is the twenty minuete long melody eight, I mean it's good, but it does drag on, and of course gets a little stale, and I just dont think it fits with all the other shorter songs, but really the song isnt that bad.

If you're a fan of seventies symph prog, I cant recomend this to you. If you're a fan of extremely chill post rock such as sigur ros, or GY!BE, I cant recomend this to you. If you're a fan of the faster side of post rock, or math rock, I highly recomend this amazing album to you. Even the tech metal fans might have a good time with this album. 4 stars.

Tera Melos-

My Formal introduction to Math Rock

After attending a camp at University of Michigan over the summer, I made a few friends, and one of them introduced me to Tera Melos. I hadn't actually had a chance to hear anything by them before I left, but I remember going onto a myspace and listening to short samples, and subsequently was blown away by the musicianship: it was nothing like I had heard before. Granted, being a little more familiar with Math Rock, I understand where some of the influence comes from, but to this day Tera Melos remains a favorite. While sharing some similarities with Don Caballero, Tera Melos is indeed its own entity.Four guys (now three) recording progressively styled music, but with a punk attitude. The sense of contrast is something to speak of: their "heavy" parts, while not exactly bone crushing, provide stark contrast for their mellow (yet many times equally frantic) sections. Another distinguishing characteristic is their high usage of finger tapping, but not in the conventional "Eruption" sort of way, so it doesn't grow stale. They implement vocals on occasion, but it is an extremely background instrument, and not present in every single song even. What I like about the band is their attitude: they play their music with the attitude of just that, with no pretenses. Their live shows are apparently something to behold (I've yet to have the privelege to see them): they play this music while doing cartwheels, flips, and all sorts of wild acrobatics, and don't miss a beat. Anyway, onto the album.

Melody 1: more or less of an intro to the rest of the album, shows them utilizing several effects already, and is somewhat reminiscent of Squarepusher, with jazzy sounding chords and electronic drumming

Melody 2: this is where things kick into really high gear, exploding right off the bat into a schizophrenic groove! This song is quite unpredictable, not quite in a Behold...the Arctopus way (far less abrasive) but in every way just as repetitive (or complete lack thereof). The more aggressive sections come without warning, and yet somehow it still doesn't feel forced like many bands who attempt this (the Miss Machine album comes to mind). Excellent musicianship from everyone in the band on this track. The latter half sort of sounds like they are rummaging through silverware in the background, which is sort of odd, but not annoying. It really becomes almost post-rock like in the last third or so.

Melody 3: a similar guitar line to the beginning of the previous track fades in, and now its the drummer's turn to show off, and it isn't a double bass "hit every tom" blitz, it's actually quite tastefully done. The drums really do carry this song.

Melody 4: now into yet another impossible to count section...into a punk section? it does for a short time, but it's sans the whiny vocals that accompony most actual punk songs, and somehow works in context...this band also has a habit of lulling the listener into a false sense of security, then blasting them with a completely unexpected section (don't let it scare you away though, its part of the fun)

Melody 5: the monster track out of all of them, this one's quite a ride. I won't go into too much detail, its in line with the rest of the songs on the album, more of the same and yet not. It's interesting to note that the album itself works more as one massive song rather than a collection of 8, probably why they chose to label each song as a "Melody" rather than with an actual title. This song actually gets quite noisy in the middle, but not for too long. Some of the electronic scapes used remind me vaguely of Kid A- era Radiohead, especially in the latter section with the electronic drumming.

Melody 6: this returns the listener from the almost dreamlike former section back into the world of "math rock". I can't really elaborate too much here because all that's needed to be said has already been said.

Melody 7: A nice way to round out the end of the album

Melody 8: I really don't quite know what to make of this track....this is where the actual "music" ends and they spiral into a sort of noise scape...a 28 minute one at that. It's definitely interesting to hear what they can do with their equipment, but ....not for 28 minutes. Perhaps this is in line with their whole "punk" mentality, a sort of finger in the air to any sort of semblance of convention. Either way, its up to you to judge this one.

Overall, one of the stronger debuts from a band I've heard, definitely recommended for anyone who's interested in math rock and perhaps even fans of Technical prog metal (though it ain't metal, sorry)...has a few obvious flaws (the last track comes to mind) but overall rounds out to a very solid 4 stars.

"Tera Melos? Yeah I think I've heard of Tera Melos.... aren't they like hardcore punk or something? No? I thought they were, must've been thinking of a different band..."

First time I heard the name Tera Melos (or maybe not?) A musician friend of mine had recently seen them in concert when they opened for progressive hardcore band, The Fall of Troy. He couldn't get enough of them. I remember being bombarded by his overly enthusiastic rambling that early school morning. Barely 7:30 AM and I'm already dealing with this kid's exuberance over yet another random band that no one really cares about.

So what was he so excited about? A little unknown band from Sacramento called Tera Melos. I had heard The Fall of Troy in the past and let's just say I wasn't exactly impressed. If these guys opened for them, they had to be just a cheap clone. After all, all these so called progressive hardcore bands are the same, right? I didn't even bother looking into the band. The name "Tera Melos" just lingered in the lower corner of the bookshelf that is my brain, growing dusty not to be touched for a long, long time.

My friend's attempt to convert me persisted. I thought "what's the big deal about this band? They can't seriously be that good, can they?" But at the end of the day I just went home once again not caring. Hey, I had better things to listen to, I had just discovered Riverside! I had some PFM and some Eloy lined up for that week too! Hardcore bands come later.... (or not at all)

I have to say that a good 10 months have passed since that first morning, and it wasn't until a couple weeks ago I actually clicked the play button on the name "Tera Melos". What convinced me? Another mate of mine, who I happen to trust more with music than my overly enthusiastic school buddy, mentioned the name.

"Hey Tera Melos, I know somebody who's a little obsessed with them!" "Yeah man, these guys destroy!"

Alright so I didn't really need an explanation, my interest in the band was at last evoked. I scramble through my hard drive and find a little EP called Drugs to the Dear Youth and start it up.

"Hmm some ambient effects, this is nice... ooh what's that? Huh? WTF!?!"

My first reaction went something like that.

Roughly 40 seconds into the first track everything blazes up into a maddening fury of instrumental insanity. The next 30 seconds will set the stage for what will be one of the most mind boggling bands I've come across in recent months. Did I say "hardcore" earlier? Where'd I get that idea? This is no hardcore band! I can see the appeal to hardcore audience, maybe, with all that energy they've got - a hell of a lot of energy. Geezus, this band has to be on drugs with all that energy! But there's so much more than energy to this band. Extended jazz improvisations are a main ingredient to their sound. Utterly ridiculous guitar playing, two-hand tapping, one of the most dynamic rhythm sections you'll ever see, all topped off with some nice ambient effects here and there. No hardcore band ever sounded this good.

The energy seems to be the greatest appeal this band has to offer. I instantly noticed how much adrenaline I was absorbing through this band. I could see the music and smell the colors around me, feeling was coming back into my limbs again, my life was revitalized. I thought "damn these guys are wild on disc, what could they possibly be like on stage!?" Damn, I just had to ask. On stage these guys throw a hypermanic fit, over exaggerating ever possible movement to the maximum stress a body can handle. Spirals in mid-air, cart wheels into the audience, it's a freaking frenzy. Personally I like to be able to actually focus while watching a band play their music, not worry about a human cannonball being propelled into my face.

So the hyperactive rage is actually one of my main turn-offs for this band. To me it seems rather immature for a band with such technical prowess to be hopping around the stage like leprechauns. Their uncontrollable senselessness shows itself on the album as well as songs abruptly change pace and spiral out of control. This wouldn't be a problem if it didn't happen so randomly, so ineffectively. No time is given for tension to build its way up, right when you think the band is onto something their ADD kicks in. Tera Melos might be the youths in need of some drugs. Ritalin that is.

Another problem I have with this band is the amount of focus put on their technical skill. So much emphasis is put on their ability to "destroy", as my friend would say, that it seems any concept of melody or emotion is left behind to rot. A mere 20 minutes of this band's chaos is enough to make anyone yearn for Dream Theater's hours of technical noodling. Listening to Drugs to the Dear Youth for the first time is an exhausting journey.

Fortunately this album is a big grower. I can say that I am safely able to listen to it five times in a row now without growing bored. In fact it feels incredibly short, even for an EP. It leaves me wondering when the hell this band will actually decide to write another full-length. Hopefully by that time they'll have settled down a bit and figured out how to balance their hyper activity with some polished songwriting. Mathematically, this album is stunning and an absolute joy to pick apart. I can't see any progger not being impressed by this band's technical ability. In the end though, it doesn't leave much of a lasting impression on me and feels like an underdeveloped effort. Tera Melos is a band with big potential but overall still needs a good deal of work. A little more focus, some melody, and a little restraint to balance out the chaos and Tera Melos might be quite a band to be reckoned with.

But for now, Drugs to the Dear Youth is good, but non-essential.