This is the second album from the Norwegian metal crew Teodor Tuff. Their debut album was released back in 2009 which dented the Norwegian charts and led to support slots with Whitesnake and Deep Purple. Due to a number of line up changes, following this the band were forced to recruit and regroup, this release is the fruits of the new line up and it is rather good.

Metal of the prog variety is the bands bag. The album opens with a classical choir on ‘ Godagar’, this leads into ‘ The Last Supper’ which has solid riffs and a majestic sound, think Dream Theater and you are on the right lines. The band play like they have been together for years, are a very tight unit and display excellent song writing skills.

One thing I found though was that although it was all well played and well written I felt it lacks soul and a killer punch, so although it is a good album, essentially for me it’s not a great one. There are however some high points in the shape of ‘ Delusions Of Grandeur’ and ‘ Heavenly Manna’ which both get closer to hitting the mark.

This is by no means a bad album, it has a lot going for it, but for me as I say, it lacks a certain something. Teodor Tuff, knocking on the door of greatness, but finding nobody home …

David Wilson