Matters of the Dark

Tad Morose | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 16, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B000063KOS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,086 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sword of Retribution

2. Matters of the Dark

3. Ethereal Soul

4. I Know Your Name

5. In the Shadows

6. Another Way

7. New Clear Skies

8. Riding the Beast

9. Reason of the Ghost

10. The Devil's Finger

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Jack

2. Take to the Sky

3. The Human Bondage

4. Eye of the Nightmare

5. Nuclear Skies

6. The Mission

7. Wolf and Raven

8. The River Dragon Has Come

9. Trip to...

10. The Prophecy

See all 13 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Tad Morose

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I believe in the ethereal soul, March 7, 2008

By 

Justin Gaines (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Matters of the Dark (Audio CD)

2002's Matters of the Dark is the 5th release by Swedish power metal masters Tad Morose, and the 3rd album to feature Urban Breed on vocals. The band took a major step forward when Urban Breed came on board, and this album finds the band continuing to improve their dark, melodic, somewhat progressive power metal sound. Think Savatage meets Evergrey with an understated appreciation for Iron Maiden and Helloween. I also see a lot of similarities between Tad Morose and Brainstorm/Symphorce.

The best word to describe Matters of the Dark is "anthemic." This is an album full of powerful metal anthems, and I don't mean that in the Manowar or Hammerfall sense of things. Without resorting to inane lyrics or trite "metal warrior" subject matter, Tad Morose has delivered an album jammed full of melodic metal songs that you can shake your fist and sing along to. The song Ethereal Soul is one of my favorite metal songs ever, but In the Shadows, Reason of the Ghost, and the title track are nearly as impressive.

It takes more than just anthems to make a power metal album stand out. Fortunately Tad Morose delivers the goods in terms of songwriting, production, and amazing musicianship. Christer "Krunt" Andersson in particular has the guitar hero skills, but is savvy enough not to get all Yngwie on us and lose the song for the sake of a tricky solo. And as impressive as this album is musically, Urban Breed's powerful vocals continue to amaze me. He has to be one of the most underrated vocalists in metal.

Aside from the "kid" who wishes this sounded more like Rhapsody (God help us all), I can see Matters of the Dark appealing to a wide array of progressive/power metal fans. I wouldn't necessarily call it a must-have album, but it's not that far removed either.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A collection of standout power metal songs, April 29, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Matters of the Dark (Audio CD)

This album has several crippling flaws, none of which has anything to do with the songwriting, musicianship, or production. The problem is that every song is roughly the same length, and all about the same tempo. Therefore, listening to this album is hard since every song seems the same. If you put them in a playlist or whatever, or basically just take the individual songs and listen to those, they're amazing. Excellent power chord riffs that are heavy enough for anyone, but not too heavy for anyone. The vocals are excellent, in the style of Dio or Dickinson. The guitar solos are precise and very melodic. The drumwork is great. The production is really good. The songs lack the epic quality that bands like Rhapsody achieve, but every song is extremely listenable. I can't give this five stars because it really doesn't work as an album, but consider that rating a 4.5.
Best songs:
Matters of the Dark, New Clear Skies, Riding the Beast, Ethereal Soul, the rest of the album

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ethereal Soul!!!!, May 29, 2004

By 

Ican Spell (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Matters of the Dark (Audio CD)

I love extreme metal. Death, thrash, power, but not so much black. I had a good week. I bought this, Cage's Darker Than Black and Killswitch Engage's End Of Heartache. I couldn't be happier with my purchases-this is why we go to work. What do they all have in common? Superior vocals. This is what seperates the men from the boys in metal. It's why Iron Maiden will always be better than In Flames. I like In Flames, but it's in spite of the vocals-which I find to be quite grating. If they had any one of the vocalists from these three bands, then they would be unstoppable. Tad Morose's Urban Breed is one of the best (Cage's Sean Peck is better, I think). Urban Breed sounds more like the name of a rapper, doesn't it? They tend to come up with non-conventional names while metal men usually go with their regular ones. This cd is strong from top to bottom, with some stand-outs. If you're like me and you read a lot of reviews before purchasing metal cds then you may have seen the virtues of the song Ethereal Soul extolled in text. Trust me, it's all that and then some. It makes me want to look up ethereal in the dictionary. If you like great metal, then buy this and enjoy.