THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO…TERAMAZE – The Silent Architect (Wells Music)
With 13 studio albums and 21 years on the clock since the release of their debut ‘Doxology’, Teramaze are back with what many commentators are calling their strongest outing to date. Stripped back to a quartet, with Dean Wells – the only remaining member of that original line-up – covering all the guitar parts (as well as occasional vocals) following the departure of fellow guitarist Chris Zoupa – the Australian’s latest album is certainly an impressive tour de force.
Bookended by the grandiose title track and the brooding epic ‘Left In The Fire’ – which between them account for a third of the album’s running time – ‘The Silent Architect’ is a magnificent body of work. At its broadest, it’s a progressive metal outing, but as befits a band that started out over 20 years ago with a more basic, thrashy outlook theirs is a rather broad palette and as such other influences put in an appearance, such as the quasi-grungey (and at just three-and-a-half minutes, the album’s shortest offering) ‘Mr Crazy’ which reveals itself to be a heavy little beast.
Over 62 minutes and nine tracks ‘The Silent Architect’ – not a concept album as such but a loose narrative based around The Garden Of Eden and humankind’s fall from grace – slowly unveils its secrets, and alongside the epics the more direct cuts like ‘Dust And Bone’ show that the band can still pack quite a lot into more concise material. The lengthy ‘The Invisible Countdown’ is a bit ponderous, redeemed by the final minute or so, and ‘Arrow’, another lighters-in-the-air job, could be prime-time Stryper (and a candidate for ‘Best Power Ballads Ever Vol 27’ if such an album were to exist), but is a great vehicle to showcase Nathan Peachey’s vocal prowess.
With at least one album a year to their name since 2019 Teramaze are obviously a band on a roll and a band that isn’t afraid to take chances. They could easily play it safe, but have the awareness to know that they have the songs and the talent to keep pushing themselves and their own horizons. And that truly is the mark of a great band.
Video clips:
‘Mr. Crazy’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvVYo5BIIOU
‘The Invisible Countdown’ - https://youtu.be/_5E-IK3hxuU?si=l5Nsb-UUJyDHaSnQ
‘Arrow’ - https://youtu.be/agpZ_VTBFWc?si=Bax6dY2IZ2iybfAr
John Tucker May 2026