Tanagra - Meridiem

By Calen Henry. Tanagra are an unsung hero within the recent US power / traditional metal revival. In 2015, with little fanfare, they released a great debut, None of This is Real, a scrappy mix of traditional and power metal anchored by Tom Socia’s vocals

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Gary Tonge

Tanagra are an unsung hero within the recent US power / traditional metal revival. In 2015, with little fanfare, they released a great debut, None of This is Real, a scrappy mix of traditional and power metal anchored by Tom Socia’s vocals. Closer to traditional metal that power metal, Socia’s vocals are mostly tenor, with a touch of grit giving the band a unique sound in a space rife with squeaky clean cleans and falsetto.

Tanagra, in contrast to much power metal, maintain a lower intensity than typical of the genre. Clearly intentional, and by no means a criticism, Tanagra keep things at a controlled burn. Songs never escalate to a falsetto scream or a huge rhythmic breakdown. For Meridiem, though, the band have polished their sound and really dug into their epic side. It’s bursting with complex arrangements, epic vocals, sweep picking and tapping guitar leads, orchestral embellishments, and even features some forays into odd time signatures like on None of This is Real. The band have upped the ante considerably from their debut, but kept their hallmarks, especially the tenor vocals, which now occasionally dip into baritone. Making no bones about all this the album opens with the over 11 minute title track, starting with the ominous ticking of a grandfather clock before launching into Tanagra’s progressive power metal assault.

It’s immediately evident that extreme care and creativity has been given to the composition and performances and digging into the albums lyrics shows the same. Though not ostensibly a concept album, Meridiem’s songs center around a cohesive fantasy world and tell epic stories of struggle and strife within it. It’s unclear if the band has created the world or simply written in an unnamed existing fantasy world, but either way it adds depth to the music for those willing to dig deep and the band clearly want that, having posted lyrics with all the songs on Bandcamp.

For all the boxes Meridiem ticks, though, it’s let down a bit by it’s production. For all the dynamic instrumentation and vocals, the net result sounds a bit flat. It could be that it’s more compressed (DR 5 to None of This is Real’s DR 8), but Tanagra’s extremely controlled music is robbed of impact due to the production. Some will likely find it more noticeable than others, but it can make the album a bit harder to engage with that it would have been with a more dynamic mix.

Meridiem is very much worth engaging with. Tanagra fill a niche that not many modern bands do, and they do it very well.

Tanagra - None of This Is Real

By Calen Henry. Tanagra sounds like five guys who met while playing Magic: the Gathering, discovered they were all also into Sci-fi, history, and power metal and thought it might be cool to start a metal band. Surprisingly, not only did they actually start the band

By Calen Henry.

Cover artwork by Gary Tonge

Tanagra sounds like five guys who met while playing Magic: the Gathering, discovered they were all also into Sci-fi, history, and power metal and thought it might be cool to start a metal band. Surprisingly, not only did they actually start the band, they self-released a phenomenal record.

Tanagra are from the US, but play power metal that’s deeply indebted to the European masters of the genre (as evidenced by their fantastic throwback album art and band logo). The album is chock full of catchy riffs, singalong choruses and awe-inspiring shredding but they’re not simply slaves to the genre forefathers. Tanagra's not afraid to shake things up, and that’s what elevates them from solid power metal to the single best “indie power metal” band I’ve found on Bandcamp.

Tanagra write about the future, Back to the Future, Magic: The Gathering and the American civil war, but have an edge to almost every aspect of their music that makes their earnestness seems more badass than silly. Power metal can sometimes come off as almost laughably earnest, both subject matter and delivery, but the dark side Tanagra show keeps that at bay.

The guitars sound dirtier than usual for the genre and delve into black and death metal riffs complete with blast beats. The vocals are delivered in a lower register than power metal's usual falsetto with some grit reminiscent of Chris Black’s vocals in Dawnbringer, prior to Night of the Hammer. This is mixed with some great backup harmonies like those employed by Woods of Ypres and Thrawsunblat. There’s the odd falsetto accent too, but they actually accent the songs, rather than taking them over.

The musical variety is held together by excellent song writing. Riffs and vocal hooks flow seamlessly together. Each part of each song is in service of the songwriting, rather than showmanship. Near the end of "10​:​04 PM", for example, the song breaks into a 5/4 riff that I didn’t notice till I’d listened to it about a dozen times. Probably because the main riff in the song is so excellent.

The production deserves credit as well. Everything sounds clean, but not sterile and the album measures a nice DR 8, which isn’t amazing but is certainly better than average from the genre

To top this all off the album is Pay What You Want on Bandcamp. Trust me, you want to pay something for this gem.