Style: Groove Metal, Progressive Rock, Alternative Metal (Clean vocals)
Review by: Mathis
Country: US-CA
Release date: 06 June, 2022
A strong contender for bobblehead album of the year, Waking up will have your head bouncing around without any authorization! Teravolt are the ones to be held responsible for this groove-inciting release; a progressive rock/groove metal crossover that you never knew you wanted. Complete with a percussive punchiness that rivals Muhammad Ali in his prime.
Though Teravolt is inherently similar to bands like Meshuggah, Gojira, or Sepultura; I see Teravolt more as a groove metal/prog rock crossover because they don’t use any harsh vocals. Very powerful but never reaching a point where belting becomes a scream; the vocals are much closer to that of Dream Theater or Voyager than to what is more traditional in groove metal. At the same time Teravolt embraces an in-your-face, high-octane take on alternative metal. They have a sound that resembles Twelve Foot Ninja, but with the passion and power of Protest the Hero.
Aside from Teravolt’s unique blend of styles there is one other major feature of Waking Up that helps set them apart from bands in progressive realm. This would be Teravolt’s percussion, what I believe to be the beating (pun intended!) heart of the band. Naturally, groove metal bands tend to prioritize rhythm over melody, Teravolt takes this a step further. The drums and percussion in Waking Up are just as prominent as the vocals at times, and they frequently steal the show. Yoyo Bianchi, the individual behind the drumsticks, isn’t just some heavy handed hooligan; the prominence of his work throughout the album was obviously intentionally accounted for in the mixing and production process. You may be thinking “that is great and all, but what is the deal here? Why is this guy drooling over Yoyo?”. Well for starters he has an awesome name. More importantly, Yoyo incorporates various latin percussion instruments into his style, effectively making Teravolt a latin-alternative-groove metal band. That’s a mouthful. In addition to this Yoyo is frequently filling any open air with intense and intricate drum fills. He smothers any opportunity for a listener to lose interest, and keeps the band moving and grooving with his hyperactive drumming style. Due to Yoyo’s latin influence being percussive and rhythmic Waking Up maintains a tribal style that you may not expect. There isn’t any neoclassical hyper-technical latin guitar like you may hear from Syncatto or First Fragment. You can easily pick out Yoyo’s drumming on any song, but “It’s My Time” and “Divided We Stand” will give you a solid understanding of what’s in store.
The guitar work in Waking Up, although not as unique as the drumming, greatly surpassed my expectations. Directly accompanying the drumming there is an extensive amount of “Chugga-chugga-chug-chugga-chug-chug”, but goodness there are some sick guitar solos that I didn’t see coming at all! “Coward Crowd” and “Heat Wave” both have beautiful solos with old school virtuoso-shredding styles. There are some more emotional solos thrown in too though like the outro to “Church of Pain ” which is light yet powerful with layers like a rich and delicate wedding cake.
Taking a break from the “chugs” there are some beautiful lighter songs like “Waking Up” and the acoustic guitar in “Restless Sin”. Speaking of “Restless Sin”, this track is one of my favorites as the female vocalist get’s the limelight, and is by far the softest song on the album. I honestly had no idea Heather McAndress was part of the band. I thought she was just a guest vocalist on this track, but after watching Teravolt’s music videos, I realized she does backing vocals on most of the tracks. The fact that I didn’t hear her voice before is alarming, she has a beautiful voice but is underutilized. Softer feminine vocals would perfectly complement the very powerful masculine vocals, and would add some more diversity to the band’s sound.
This leads me to my second issue with Waking Up: The album has eleven great tracks, but some of them are too similar. This does make the few unique songs a very warm welcome. Ultimately, however, if the listener isn’t paying close attention or is well acquainted with the album they may not even recognize one song from another.
Groove metal is a familiar genre, but Teravolt adds their own alternative spice to their take on the recipe. Prog rock, tribalistic latin percussion, and some softer female vocals make for a great change to the sometimes stale formula. Waking Up can sound a little samey from track to track at times and the one track with lead female vocals left me craving more, but all in all these folks do a great job coloring outside the lines of groove metal.
Recommended tracks: Restless Sin, It’s My Time, Coward Crowd
Recommended for fans of: Twelve Foot Ninja, Black Orchid Empire
You may also like: Ostura
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Rodolfo Bianchi
Teravolt is:
– Chaz Terra (Vocals)
– Heather McAndress (Vocals)
– Andy Faust (Bass)
– Yoyo Bianchi (Drums & Percussion)
– Benjamin Lechuga (Guitars)
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