REVIEW - Angelo  (www.progarchives.com)

"At the time of the election of 2008's ProgArchives Collaborator Album of the Year, I had not heard the music of The Tea Club, otherwise they might very well have made it into my top 5 for that year.

Anyway, now that I've heard General Winter's Secret Museum quite a few times, I am pretty pleased that it's part of my music collection. Whenever I browse through the huge collection of bands available in the ProgArchives database, I come across fewer bands that I know and have heard than bands that I have never heard, nor heard of. Still, over the past few years my horizon has expanded quite a bit, and with The Tea Club I can safely say that I have not heard a band like this before. That is to say, they sound familiar in many places, but the bits that I think I recognise come from so many sources that this can be considered a unique blend. Guitars, electric and acoustic, that could be borrowed form Rush, King Crimson or Porcupine Tree, great drum work, vocals that would make many a singer very proud - including the likes of Peter Hammill, and great compositions, there's load to listen for.

I have given up on doing full track by track reviews, but I'll mention a few random examples of what niceties are to be found here.

The opening track, Werewolves, with a pounding rhythm defined by both the drums and the rhythm guitar explains in full why this band is in Heavy Prog. At least, until the mellow, and sometimes almost sweet instrumental interludes come by. The band is surely not afraid of contrast in a track.

Castlebuilder opens melodically with picked guitars and limited drums. The track develops into some sort of ballad, alternating between very mellow parts with only guitar and vocals to almost symphonic and more heavy parts. The track ends almost prematurely, although not as abrupt as Dream Theater's Pull me Under, leaving the listener waiting for the conclusion. Instead, one is treated to the musical chaos of Purple Chukz, which may not have misstood on any King Crimson or Van der Graaf Generator album, which is followed by the punkesk The Clincher.

At the end of the album we find Ice Clock. This track is in some way related to Purple Chukz, but it's more stretched and definitely more modern sounding than the Crimson flashes in that track. This track is also a good illustration of what the McGowan brothers are capable of as vocalists. I am not sure which of the two is the lead vocalist, but if they take turns there this band has the most amazing vocal army available in modern prog land.

Two things are for sure. First, if I read this review again in four months time, I will probably feel like revising it. Not because what I wrote is not true, but because I will very likely have discovered new things in it that I missed in the first two weeks of listening; this band loves diversity. Second, this album scores a perfect 4 on the PA rating scale. Five stars could be awarded in time, but I believe masterpieces have to prove themselves by standing the test of time."