Opus Dai – Teirra Tragame

Double Blind Music jumped into the scene with a bang, releasing two highly successful compilations {un}known Vol.1 and Vol.2. Both albums took a look into the underground rock scene, picking up some of the best and brightest upcoming rockers and compacted them all into one neat package for the fans to devour. With those successes behind them, the label now moved forward, releasing full lengths from some of the bands that were featured in those music series. This is one of those bands, and like 32 Leaves before it, Opus Dai‘s debut Teirra Tragame fails to truly excite the listener.

While any song from Teirra Tragame would have fit nicely in the labels’ aforementioned compilations (Rain and Nightingale actually were on those CDs) as a twelve track CD, Opus Dai is simply boring. Their smooth, virtuous progressive rock anthems are just too laid back to really incite any passion of excitement from the listener. Chris-Paul Basso’s voice is strong and atmospheric, somewhat similar to Dredgin some parts, and he is able to switch from harsh Metallica-esque shouts to soaring Muse-like melodies flawlessly and seamlessly – which is good. But Basso’ vocals lose it in the production quality of the album. They are way too polished, smoothed down and smothered to a point that you know would be impossible to hit live. Not only that, but they are flattened out in the mix, molded into the instruments, and this really hurts them in the long run. Because Basso’s vocals are pretty much the only thing that keeps Teirra Tragame afloat, because musically, while they are far from horrible, they aren’t strong enough to keep you listening for the entire twelve songs. They suffer in many of the same ways the vocals do – to over produced, too slick, and too generic.

While Opus Dai‘s bio continually promotes the fact that they have an “undeniable intensity” within every song of the album, I have had trouble finding that intensity anywhere. Instead, all I’ve been able to find is laid back, overproduced, generic rock played over and over until you think the CD is just one long song. One or two songs on a compilation is okay, but as an album in it’s entirety, I think Double Blind have struck out again.