Customer Reviews

Modus Vivendi

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been listening to a lot of Tad Morose these days. Starting with 1997's A Mended Rhyme (which was the first album to feature vocalist Urban Breed), you can see the band's steady progression and the improvements they made album by album to reach their pinnacle - 2004's Modus Vivendi. This is easily the band's best release, and one of the best modern power metal albums.

Tad Morose takes their unique brand of dark progressive melodic power metal (think Iron Maiden meets Savatage meets Evergrey) to a whole new level with this album. They found just the right mix between the technicality of A Mended Rhyme and Matters of the Dark's anthemic sound, bringing the best elements of both together. Christer "Krunt" Anderssen provides some incredible guitar solos, and his melodic hooks and riffs are the perfect counterpoint to Urban Breed's powerhouse vocals. There are a few vocalists that can do no wrong in my book (Zak Stevens, DC Cooper, Jorn Lande, David Readman), and Urban Breed is one of them. His performance here is nothing short of incredible.

I could pick out specific standout tracks (the Middle Eastern inspired Anubis, the aggressive Take on the World and No Mercy, the majestic When the Spirit Rules the World), but the whole album is fantastic. Everything from the songwriting to the musical performances to the vocals to the production is first rate. Even the cover art is perfect.

Modus Vivendi is a must-have album for anyone into modern power metal. If you follow bands like Angra, Blind Guardian, Brainstorm, Iced Earth, and Demons & Wizards, you simply must have this album in your collection. Five stars all the way.

Unfortunately, this is (to date) the final Tad Morose album. The band parted ways with Urban Breed soon after its release. They have since signed former Liege Lord vocalist Joe Comeau as his replacement, but have not yet released an album.

NOTE: In what is a pretty rare occurrence, it looks like the US version of Modus Vivendi might be the best version to get. Sure, the expensive Japanese version has a pair of exclusive bonus tracks (isn't that always the way), but the US version includes three bonus cover songs. You get covers of Uriah Heep's "Rainbow Demon", ABBA's "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (believe it or not, this totally works as a metal song), and Accept's "Losing More Than You Ever Had". These great covers make an already great album that much better.

Tad Morose has had a long hard career indeed never really getting any recognition from like 94' to 99'and its finally time they get the regonition they deserve.Soaring vocal's,chunky Sabbath size riffs,very solid drum work and remarkable chorus's make this a must have.Heres a brief synopsis song by song.

1.Anubis-Not exactly sure of the meaning,but it starts off with a Middle eastern punch and grooves right along with all the intensity of a powerful opening track also has a great Testament sounding breakdown section in the middle..great song.

2.No Mercy-More up-beat rocker here with some great swedish sounding riff's,with a great chorus also.

3.Afraid to Die-Awesome mid-tempo rocker,in which Urban Breed's vocal's instile a great power.The man sounds like he's about 10 feet tall and his name should be goliath.Awesome lyrics to,one in which states,"Make no mistake my friend i'll hold you till the bitter end,or face the music,get a grip now say Farewell".

4.Clearly Insane-Indeed,clearly the heaviest track on the album,the name speaks for itself.

5.Cyberdome-Not really a ballad,but the slowest more surreal type song on the album still heavy though,Great chorus also.Either has something to do with futuristic warfare or the internet...not sure.

6.Take on the world-Great tune,starts off with the Galloping maidenist drum beat,and a great power duo of guitar work.Which is found throughout the entire album.

7.Mother Shiptons Words-A very black sabbathish tune with double bass,also a very catchy chorus.Although i have no idea who she is.But thats what i like music you have to think about.

8.Unwelcome Guest-A song def.about aliens invading and one man stands alone,reminds you a little of predator with the soundbites at the beginning.This also sounds like Thrashy sabbath,literally the riff sounds like the Song Black sabbath sped up,and very much heavier,def.one of my favorites.Very heavy.

9.Life in A Lonely Grave-A song thats hard to describe its slow,heavy,chunky,and melodic all at once,and also has a very deep emotional sounding chorus to it.Awesome.

10.When the spirit rules the world-Has an opening that sounds like Egyptian slaves being branded by they're masters.Excellent chorus and mid-section break,very solid tight riffing here.

So its time to give credit where credit is due,they don't sound like anyone else,and they are certainly no average Metal band.If this were the mid 80's early 90's in the U.S they would be soaring.Unfortunately you have to go to sweden to find real metal these days.Powerful,monsterous vocal's,heavy guitar's to blow out your speaker's and just an overall sound like no other makes Tad Morose my new Fav.band for this New Mellenium.Nuff said.

From www.MaximumMetal.com

Every now and again you find a group that you miss somehow. One such group that I had never heard of was Tad Morose from Sweden. The band was making an appearance with EdGuy in NYC on their way to the ProgPowerUSA Fest. After listening to the CD "Modus Vivendi" and also catching a live set I can only say one thing about these makers of molten metal......FANTASTIC!!! From start to finish this CD is an awesome piece of work. I enjoyed track after track from this Swedish Quintet and here are some highlights about it.

Tad Morose brings a special quality to the term power metal, as it is very old school in its sound yet can also be considered original in its delivery and overall vibe. The vocals of Urban Breed don't rely much on the operatic styling as many of his peers are apt to do these days. Yet they hold well and powerful through track after track. He is also a killer frontman getting the audience rallied to the music in a live set. The bandmates providing a great backing vocal to his lead making the chorus sections that much more full and exciting. The lineup has changed a little for those who have been following the group. It now stands as Urban Breed (vocals), Christer Andersson (guitars), Anders Modd (bass), Peter Moren (Drums) and Daniel Olsson (Guitars).

Some parts of the CD have a definitive Savatage feel to them and guitarist Christer "Krunt" Andersson will be quick to cite the groups influencial nature as part of their sound. You will find this homage most prevalent in tracks like "Unwelcome Guest" and "Take On The World" (my favorite so far). Some of the heavier and faster numbers are "Mother Shiptons Words" and "Cyberdome". As a metal fan, this is a CD that you should seek out, and a band that needs to play more shows in the USA. Give this a shot with the highest of recommendations from me. It is that good.

Band Site: www.tadmorose.com

The more vocalist Urban Breed contributes to the songwriting, the more he seems to define the sound of Tad Morose. I remember the first Tad Morose disc he sang on, A Mended Rhyme, and compare it to this one, and believe me, it is impossible not to notice the change of style in this band. With the release of the incredibly amazing Undead, Tad Morose became a completely new band. It also brought them the recognition that had ignored them all the years as they signed to Century Media.

I will not get into the history of Tad Morose here; but I will say this. When I eagerly picked up the previous album Matters of the Dark, I was a little disappointed--especially because of the brilliant Undead CD. I knew they were in the process of establishing their new direction, but MOTD overall ended up sounding too much like its predecessor and somewhat failed to bring new ideas to the table. Considering that none of the previous Tad Morose albums sounded like each other, I was a little baffled, and although good in its own right, I rank MOTD as the Tad Morose album I listen to the least. Taking this into account, I can safely say that Modus Vivendi is a step in the right direction.

The first song "Anubis" is one of the greatest surprises of this album. I don't know why, but both the Middle Eastern melodies and riffing as well as Urban Breed's vocals remind me terribly of Turkey's greatest and best heavy metal band Mezarkabul (formerly known as Pentagram). [So if you like this song and want to hear more of it make sure you check out Mezarkabul - Unspoken or Pentagram - Anatolia. They're among my all-time favourite CDs.] Back to Modus Vivendi. "Anubis" is one of the unusual songs Tad Morose have composed in the post-Andren era and it's a very good one at that. "No Mercy" is like a second album opener with its crunchy opening and fiery chorus. It easily hints that Urban Breed may arguably be doing his best vocal performance in his Tad Morose career. His singing is very aggressive, which we heard on some songs in Undead and MOTD, but on Modus Vivendi, he retains his aggressive delivery through the entire album. As "Afraid to Die" kicks in and gets you going, somewhere towards the middle, you may worry that the guitar work may be lacking, especially in the soloing department. That was one of the major setbacks of MOTD. Now Undead didn't have too many killer solos either, because of the new approach and absence of keys. However we didn't need too much emphasis on guitars on Undead. MOTD seemed to follow the same path but there weren't any rocking solos on it. But Modus Vivendi doesn't suffer from the same problems. The solo in "Afraid to Die" rocks hard and heavy! And it's not the only one. There are amazing solos in every other song. Now that is great, isn't it? The twin guitar work is highly impressive and the soloing is top notch. When one guitar lays down the solos, the other fills the gaps with subtle rhythm work and sublime bass lines.

"Clearly Insane" is perhaps the heaviest song Tad Morose has ever composed. Its almost thrashy intro is incredibly well done and h e a v y. Urban Breed sings like there's no tomorrow and again the guitar solo takes you to a higher level. Unlike the last three Breed-era albums, there aren't any ballads on this one. "Cyberdome" is the only mid-tempo song and even that one has an interesting momentum shifting from slow to really fast melodic passages. The chorus is less catchy, and I'm sure it's meant to be that way, displaying Urban Breed's simply beautiful vocals over a soft acoustic piece and rhythmic drum work. The rest of the album pretty much continues in the same vein offering some awesome guitar work from Daniel Olsson and Christer Andersson. I am also highly impressed by drummer Peter Moren whose tasteful drumming on "Anubis" made my jaws drop. Bassists are always the bottom line of metal music. Take them out and you only have a half-complete song. Anders Modd deserves a special praise for his work here. This thing wouldn't have been what it is without his input. Good job indeed. Behind Urban Breed, Wolverine vocalist Stefan Zell once again appears as a guest singer and as usual he does a fairly impressive job.

So why not 5 stars you may wonder. The reason for that is, being a big fan of the older Tad Morose albums, which were beautiful and unique examples of dark progressive metal, I feel those albums have more substance, and therefore, more replay value for me. In my opinion, it is still open to discussion whether the complete exclusion of keyboards from Tad Morose's music was a good move or not. While I really love Undead, I still feel A Mended Rhyme (despite the poor production) has its own place in my heart. The older albums with Kristian Andren were more experimental in attitude and darkly progressive in structure, while the current material doesn't explore much new ground. On the other hand it's more in your face, more direct and heavy. I think it's a good decision that the total running time of this CD is less than 50 minutes because if it were longer it could be more difficult to make it to the end of it. Currently the guys in Tad Morose obviously want to make music that flat out rocks and that's perfectly fine with me.

There's no tracklisting on Amazon's page so here you go: Anubis . No Mercy . Afraid to Die . Clearly Insane . Cyberdome . Take on the World . Mother Shipton's Words . Unwelcome Guest . Life in a Lonely Grave . When the Spirit Rules the World

This band deserves to be heard, and pushed, to the masses that love powermetal. If you don't have this in your collection, buy it now!

Tad Morose are a straight forward Heavy Metal band. Urban Breed is a fantastic singer with great rang and powerful yet clear vocals. The production on this CD is awesome and the pure power of the guitars will have your walls shaking. My favorite songs are Anubis, No Mercy, Clearly Insane, and Tad's best song ever When The Spirit Rules The World. These guys get better every CD, it's a shame that Urban left the band after this one but his replacement Joe Cuomo from Annihilator might fit just fine. We'll see.

Big Metal Sound with melodic hooks that grab you and don't let go from the opening track. This album... band for that matter is well worth any metal fans attention that's seeking a raw, in-your-face sound that just jams from start to finish. I just picked up the album today and it was well worth the money, wait and time posting this review. Just a great band. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed. (also check out a band called EDGUY. Good metal band with a Dream Theater sound.)

First off let me say this band has the most unique sound that i've heard in the past 10 years or so.Urban Breed is already a legendary singer in his own time.The thick chunky production of this album is so powerful it will actually send goose bumps up the back of your neck and leave you saying wow thats power.The riffs are very creative and there isn't anything to fancy or flashy,just good thick,solid,powerful in your face metal.Why the U.S doesnt promote bands like this is beyond me,because this is what america need's,some TRUE metal music with some chunk.

The debut album from this Swedish band from Bollnäs came out in 1993: "LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND". This current album "MODUS VIVENDI" is their seventh album and the follow up to their last album "MATTERS OF THE DARK" from 2002.

Last year Tad Morose went into their local studio Soundcreation to record this new album. Fredrik Nordström (Dream Evil, In Flames, and Dimmu Borgir etc) took care of the mixing of the album at his own studio, the very well known Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden. As usual, Fredrik has done an excellent job with the production and the soundpicture. There's nothing bad to say about the production at all; Fredrik knows what he's doing.

"MODUS VIVENDI" contains 10 tracks. The cover is brilliantly done by the German artist Jan Meininghaus (Bolt Thrower, Brainstorm and Zonata etc) and captures the music very nicely.

Urban has a powerful voice that suits the music. Christer and Daniel have a nice guitar sound and the same goes for Peter on drums. Tad Morose plays very competent pure power metal with a lot of tempo through the songs. Guitar and voice are very high up in the soundpicture. As usual, when it comes to power metal, there have to be some ballads on the album, and so there are on this one. "CYBERDOME" is an up-tempo ballad with a lot of guitar riffs. Urban shows that he has a really broad vocal range in this song.

I don't have any favourite song on this album; the songs have a tendency to blend together. This feels like ordinary power metal nothing more or less. Personally I think that there's much better band in this genre like Dream Evil or Edguy and if you are going to buy a power metal album this should maybe not be your first choice, check out the other bands mentioned above instead.