By Martin Popoff
Swedish doom prog icons Tad Morose have returned with Matters Of The Dark (see www.centurymedia.com for more info), yet another stake in the heart of power metal, a collection of songs that captures the timelessness of brooding gothic metal above and beyond the frilly widdle rock of less experienced bands buzzing the scene. This is not happy metal. This is a sound that evokes Jag Panzer, Evergrey, Memento Mori, as well as fellow Bollnas dwellers Lefay.
Vocalist Urban Breed begins by recounting the album's tour plans, which are virtually over and done with. "Well, we've been on a European tour already. We released the album in January in Europe. I'd just love to go to the U.S. and have some fun (laughs). We toured with Demon over here, great guys. They can get a pretty good crowd, but we played so many weird places. And we played every night of the week; Mondays can be tough (laughs). But going out with Demon, I don't think I've met a band like that where everyone is just great. And I mean everyone. We had such a good time. We were three bands on one bus. The conditions were totally horrible. No sane person would go on tour under these conditions but we had a great time anyway. Actually, I had my birthday on tour so they had a stripper come on stage with me during the last two or three songs. That was kind of a surprise. I was more expecting someone dumping a garbage can over me or something (laughs)."
I asked Urban what he thought were the main differences with this album versus its predecessor, Undead. "I don't know. Are there any differences (laughs)? Of course there are differences, but it's not so easy to put the finger on them myself. I think the songwriting is even more streamlined this time and I guess I sung some of the songs a bit differently and we do have some different guitar arrangements. We're weird (laughs). It's so hard to tell. We don't think about making power metal or anything. That's maybe what sets us apart. We just try to make heavy metal to the best of our ability."
TAD MOROSE - Sparks In The Dark Page 2