(by Christa Titus)
When you listen to “The Lie,” the opening track to To-Mera’s Delusions, you might think you have the UK band pegged. Definitely intense, progressive metal that’s been influenced by Dream Theater, as well as death metal (listen to Paul Westwood’s drums) and maybe some thrash. Julie Kiss’ vocals are recorded with an ethereal tone, but the music keeps To-Mera from being classified as symphonic Euro metal.
Then Lee Barrett starts plucking purred notes from his bass, and the next thing you know, the song has dropped into… jazz. Lounge smooth, scat-ready jazz, with Kiss’ voice following in kind. To-Mera transforms itself into the soundtrack to a swinging’ ‘60s bachelor pad for a few measures before jumping back into death-metal-drummed prog. You get more of the same on the tracks “Fallen From Grace” and “Asylum,” which mixes dark guitar chords with dinner piano.
“It’s a weird mixture of I guess jazz soul, as well as all sorts of metal from power to prog, mixed in with some extreme metal bits here and there,” Kiss says in describing her band’s sound. “But I think we managed to still keep it quite groovy and there are some really catchy melodies here and there. Even though it sounds like a strange mixture of stuff, it’s still quite accessible once you get into us. With a prog metal album, you don’t really expect to listen to an album and get it immediately, because that’s not how it works.”
Kiss compares Delusions to To-Mera’s 2006 debut, Transcendental, by saying, “overall it’s a lot more complex, but at the same time it’s also more sophisticated and flows a lot better than the previous album that had a lot more odd changes and stuff like that.”
Those aren’t the only differences between the albums. When Transcendental arrived, To-Mera had played its first live show only days before. The band’s lineup had been through a variety of incarnations before it solidified enough to record the album, which was done by sending each other their recorded parts over the Internet. And the personnel shifts weren’t over yet: After Delusions was finished, co-founder Barrett and keyboardist Hugo Sheppard left, replaced by Mark Harrington and one-name musician Hen, respectively. Guitarist/composer Tom MacLean said in an online interview that To-Mera wasn’t sure of its identity while recording Transcendental, and Kiss feels that’s starting to change. “We’re definitely on the right path to explore this identity of ours, but we are still in the process to really be able to say, ‘yeah, this is us 100 percent,’ just in terms of individuality,” the Hungarian singer says. “Even though you could say this is a unique album, we still feel we have a lot more to give and a lot further to go until we can say, ‘yeah, this is To-Mera and that is our sound.’”
To-Mera is also working on establishing its identity in metal, which has been quick to categorize the group as a female-fronted band instead of seeing it as merely a prog metal act. Kiss says the feedback the band is getting on Delusions has been mixed. “Some people we just confused completely and I don’t think they really gave it much time to listen; they thought, ‘wow, that is just far too crazy.’ [But] progressive music is supposed to be experimental in a way and it’s about trying to expand your musical boundaries.”
Asked where she would like To-Mera to be in five years, Kiss laughs at how far away that feels. “I could say in a couple of years we’ll have recorded our third album. I think we all feel the album is going to be that To-Mera album [that shows who we are], ‘cause we just really feel a lot more confident [in] our music and abilities. It feels like [we have] come together now as a band.”
She would also like to become a full-time musician. The band still supports itself with day jobs right now (Kiss is a photographer, MacLean is a science teacher). “We’re working, although it’s getting more and more difficult obviously because of touring. It’s not exactly easy to arrange work and music,” she laughs again, “but so far it’s working.”
