The Tea Party The Edges of Twilight Review

Album Overview

Well, The Tea Party certainly has a very unique sound. It has hints of industrial, mixed with what I am told is “world rock”. The Arabian sound that Phelpsie doesn’t like calling Arabian is very unique, and they mix it well with the rest of their instruments. Overall, they are a great band, particularly if you enjoy the sound of their Middle Eastern musical roots.

Okay, enough of that. Album overviews are boring. Let’s get on with the music.

1. Fire In The Head

The Tea Party’s industrial sound is much more prominent in this song than any other on the album. The beginning of this song is a soft acoustic guitar, like many Tea Party songs. It grows louder and more industrial towards the middle of the song, and smoothly changes between the two sounds across the rest of the song. The end of the song draws out a bit longer than it should, but it doesn’t ruin the rest of the track. I thought the song was a good listen, and enjoyed it greatly.

2. The Bazaar

I loved this song. Even before I heard the title I had visions of a Middle Eastern bazaar straight out of old movies like Aladdin. This fantastic track keeps up the imagery both in the music and in the lyrics, and forms a very vivid mental picture. I am not sure what else to say about this song. I’ll leave it at “very good” and move on.

3. Correspondences

This track brings down the lights a bit on the album, giving us a soft, soothing song that deserves that alliteration. The vocals feel a bit weak at times, but the music does its best to make up for it. The Arabian/Middle Eastern sound is much less apparent in this song than the earlier two, and it feels more like a blues song. The only problem I have with this song is the length. I dislike songs longer than four or five minutes because a frequent problem they have is repetition. At some points it feels almost as if I had accidentally started the song over, because it begins to repeat itself. Apart from that minor qualm, I enjoyed this song.

4. The Badger

I am not sure why this song is named after a small irate mammal, but it was a good track nonetheless. The entire song is a soft acoustic guitar, and has no traces of any of The Tea Party’s other musical themes. It’s a quick, refreshing listen, but it’s not particularly interesting.

5. Silence

The beginning of the song is a bit obnoxious, but I actually enjoyed the rest of the song. It had a strong Middle Eastern flavor, like The Bazaar, and I actually liked the vocals on this track. A winner in my book, despite the annoying honking instrument.

6. Sister Awake

A soft, Indian sounding song, that stands out from the last track. It changes greatly over the course of the five minute play time, but keeps the same sounds and themes that The Tea Party uses so much. Very enjoyable, and one of the best songs on the album.

7. Turn The Lamp Down Low

Slow and subdued, like Sister Awake and The Badger, I thought this song was nice and soothing. The lyrics are quite strange at times, and Phelpsie and I decided that it was one of those songs where the lyrics might mean something, but they probably don’t. This did not inhibit my enjoyment of the song until the end, which breaks form with the rest of the song by getting louder and harder on the ears. I disliked the last parts of the song, but I greatly enjoyed the first two and a half minutes.

8. Shadows on the Mountainside

A quiet song. Not very much to say about it. I didn’t find it particularly interesting, but it also wasn’t that bad. Not good enough to boost the overall grade of the album, but not bad enough to reduce it.

9. Drawing Down the Moon

A very industrial song, it stands out dramatically from the previous tracks. Drawing Down the Moon is the heaviest song on the album, while still maintaining some of the more melodic facets of the Tea Party. Despite that, this song isn’t that great. It’s good for the industrial fans in the audience, but even for them, it’s merely an average song at best.

10. Inanna

This song starts off soft and showing off their world rock aspect, and progresses into a more industrial sound towards the end. An alright song, but it didn’t really interest me very much. Like a handful of other songs on the album, it simply does the same things they’ve been doing well without adding or improving on them. If you really like the Tea Party then you’ll enjoy this song, but it’s not one of their best.

11. Coming Home

A strong Tea Party song and one I enjoyed a lot. Nothing incredible or mind blowing from this one, but it’s very solid.

12. Walk With Me

A fantastic song to wrap up the album with, I give it two thumbs up. A great song to showcase the Tea Party’s sound in this album, it’s a good fusion between their world rock and industrial influences.

12.5 Hidden Spoken Track

Quite poetic, but not very interesting. Perhaps of more interest to someone who enjoys poetry with a soft musical background. I am not one of those people, so this is the first time I sat through the whole thing.

Overall, the Tea Party makes a good showing in this album, but few songs stand out as fantastic. There’s a couple of winners in here, but nothing very special, and a few too many tracks that seemed like some simple filler. I rate it three and a half stars on average, though there were a few songs here that I would have given as high as a four point five individually.