It was their name that got me interested in Tad Morose back in the Nineties. We were all still using the word ‘tad’ a lot at that time, like “I’m a tad tired today” or “it’s a tad windy out there” etc, rather than just saying “a bit” or “a little”. Tad Morose filled me with satisfaction when I heard a couple of their albums back in the late Nineties, because that’s exactly what they were! They weren’t Doom Metal, but they weren’t normal Heavy Metal either, they were just a little bit darker and more miserable, they were actually Metal, but a tad morose! Even when they replaced the Doom-leaning vocals of Kristian Andrén with the great-voice-silly-named Urban Breed and took on a slightly more Power Metal angle it was Power Metal…but still a tad morose!
With a new vocalist in the fold (Ronny Hemlin – ex-Steel Attack) Tad Morose find themselves releasing their 8th full-length album “St Demonius”. I actually missed out on album number 7 “Revenant”, so I’m coming at this line-up completely fresh. The fist thing that struck me was that Ronny Hemlin’s vocals aren’t a million miles away in delivery to his predecessor’s, Mr. Breed, something I don’t remember spotting about his time in Steel Attack, so this must have a large amount to do with Tad Morose’s inimitable song-writing style. We are talking no nonsense Heavy Metal here, but with an intelligent edge that maybe only comes with experience. Tad Morose aren’t out to change the musical world, just further enrich the one they inhabit, and on the whole that’s exactly what they do.
Lyrically, and to be expected, they are…well, a tad morose. Nothing too grim, just a bit maudlin, which suits the darker edge to the music. No point in lauding the virtues of puppies and butterflies over riffs as heavy as those clanging forth from songs like ‘Remain’ and ‘Darkness Prevail’. But then every track centres around a decent riff in one guise or another, in that time honoured Heavy Metal way. The dark attitude of Tad Morose comes from the style of song and arrangement rather than tempo – they flit effortlessly from the trudging malevolence of ‘Day Of Reckoning’, straight into the Double-kick driven Power Metal edged ‘The Shadows Play’ without appearing to change approach or style at all. There’s always a great continuity on a Tad Morose album.
This is probably the first album where I’ve heard from the band that contain tracks that could have been from any part of their lengthy career, the only difference being the piercing, full-on Heavy Metal vocal delivery of Hemlin. He manages to cover all aspects of the band really well, but fans of a traditional Metal voice rather than a Swedish doom, will enjoy it the most. If you already like Tad Morose, I reckon you’ll still like Tad Morose, no problem there, but if you have yet to discover them, then this is probably their most rounded album to date, so a great time to check them out.
(7.5/10 Andy Barker)
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