Teardown started in 2001 when guitarist Sami Ahmaoja wanted to compose and play Katatonia inspired music and decided to get some like-minded musicians to join him in that quest. Over the years there have been a couple of line-up changes, but the band has remained fairly stable and Sami is currently joined by Katja Pieksämäki (vocals), Pipsa Niemi (keyboards), Mika Laine (bass), Jari Kinnunen (guitar) and Arto Pieksämäki (drums). Althoughg the band has released bit and pieces of material over the years I am somewhat surprised that this is their debut as this is an incredibly polished and mature album. Atmospheric and majestic are just a few of the words that can be used to describe this, and while Katatonia are an obvious influence so is Nightwish and Within Temptation. Pipsa has a great touch on the keyboards and this definitely adds additional finesse to proceedings while Jari and Sami are content to sit in the background or break through in a truly metallic way when it is required.
The arrangements have been well though out, and the music ebbs and flows in a way that keeps the listener enthralled as one is never quite sure what is going to happen next. It may have taken them twelve years to get to this point but let’s only hope that the next album comes through in slightly less time. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on.
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