But what kind of frenzy is Teramaze in? The Australian progressive metal band is at least five albums in three years with this new "Flight Of The Wounded". If we missed some of them, the productions follow one another at a crazy pace, alternating the very good ("I Wonder" in 2020 with a return to the prog metal of "Her Halo"), the predictable ("And The Beauty they Percieve" in 2021 in particular) and the less good with "Are We Soldiers" in 2019.
This "Flight Of The Wounded" marks again an artistic turn for the band of Dean Wells, who became a singer since two years, a usual practice for Teramaze who has never stopped exploring all the aspects of metal since its beginnings. The purpose of "Flight Of The Wounded" is resolutely melodic since the album offers an hour of music a little less progressive than at its beginning, which clearly approaches melodic metal.
The codes of the progressive metal are however never far away. Particularly on the track that opens the album (and gives it its name) 'Flight Of The Wounded', a long progressive fresco made of many variations and rhythmic breaks for ten minutes of a classic prog reminiscent of the Swedes of Darkwater. The solo is particularly bewitching. Dean Wells decided to take the microphone and the result is surprisingly good with a tone that strongly resembles that of Glynn Morgan from Threshold.
This is not the only resemblance with the English, since the whole album is quite close to what Karl Groom's band has been offering for several albums and particularly on the excellent "Legends of The Shires". Thus, many tracks borrow the same melodic and rhythmic codes and rely on an orchestration more progressive in spirit than in form. 'Gold', 'Ticket To The Next Apocalypse' and 'Until The Light' are forged from the same melodic prog with sharp riffs and exciting melodic developments, while 'Battle' or 'The Thieves are Out' happily recall the effective melodic metal of the Swedes of Cyhra and their superb "No Halos In Hell".
With less complicated song constructions but with numerous developments and subtle arrangements, "Flight Of The Wounded" only suffers from a slight lack of originality and some similarities between some tracks, but enjoys a beautiful technical mastery and an intelligent writing. The album, close to the best of both worlds, will necessarily please the fans of melodic metal and the nostalgics of a classic progressive metal not so outdated when it is written with so much clairvoyance.