Review Summary: This sounds like Keor dropped acid and wrote down and recorded everything that came to his mind during a long night in a cave somewhere.
Keor is the progressive solo project of Victor Miranda Martin who has made waves in the progressive rock and metal underground with his sophomore album Petrichor. This album presented a refreshing combination of folk music, fantasy-themed sound effects, and distorted guitar riffs and chords that are similar to those of Opeth or Porcupine Tree. This album achieved a pretty fair amount of critical recognition and underground success, and it was one of my personal favorite underground prog albums of 2018. It essentially took the best elements from Keor's 2016 debut album, Hive Mind, and had condensed them down to a manageable 49-minute epic experience.
Coming off such a strong album, many of Keor's fans have been anxiously awaiting to see if he would be able to top the quality of his last album. This background is incredibly relevant when it comes to judging the sharp turn Keor had taken with their newest LP Tearoom. This album has been causing me a good bit of inner turmoil and I found it fairly difficult to evaluate, hence the reason this review was written over a month after the album's release date. I will say the most relevant problem, off the bat, comes from the possibility that fans of Keor's last couple albums will not necessarily be fans of Tearoom as it represents a major stylistic shift in Keor's discography.
In essence, Keor let go of the fantasy-nature aesthetic, as well as most of the atmospheric progressive metal mediums, in favor of a variety of sounds that don't all feel like they combine well together. This album combines a questionable mix of psychedelic rock, symphonic prog, tribal music, and some other comedic spoken word elements that Devin Townsend is commonly known for. This may sound interesting to some, but a concept like this is something that is difficult to formulate in an enjoyable and cohesive musical experience. And a unified and cohesive musical experience is one thing that Keor fails to deliver in this album.
It is worth noting where this album excels in which is in its mixing and production. Tearoom was recorded in a cave in a faraway mountain in god knows where, but in individual slices, the album sounds very good. In fact, this is sonically one of the better-sounding albums so far this year. Most of the bits are also well performed and there are a lot of solid guest musicians on the album, one of which is Lucas de la Rosa's guitar section on track 4. He is known for his YouTube channel of miscellaneous prog metal inspired satirical content. One of my favorites is his uncanny musical piece "If OPETH wrote DREAM THEATER's 'On the Backs of Angels'".
I want to move on to the lyrics as they seem to be a part of the album's primary focuses, a lot more so than Petrichor or Hive Mind. Keor presents them in tandem with countless musical styles which usually fit the moods of his lyrical themes. Additionally, much of the dialogue of the album reminds me of pseudo-philosophical things that stoners like to talk about
: "we are the devil", "heaven is when we can learn to love each other man", "the most important thing is to forgive ourselves for being imperfect", "Anxiety is insignificant noise in outside depressed minds of bodies". Much of the album's lyrics revolve around Keor's internal monologues which often break the fourth wall in a very blunt way. When many of Keor's big lyrical statements happen, the music seems to slow down and become very minimal to emphasize the power of whatever he is trying to get across. If done successfully this would make for a very memorable and enjoyable experience, but I can't say that it was successful, not in the way that for example, Deconstruction by Devin Townsend is. How the lyrics and other quirky sound effects were presented sound very amateurish, and at times, a little obnoxious.
Throughout, the album freely slides from one musical idea to another, combining them with this strange concept album about Keor finding some common remedies to life and suffering. It is one twisty, disjointed, and emotional journey very reminiscent of a strong acid trip. To speak frankly, this sounds like an album that is meant to be enjoyed through a very specific framework, or lens of the world, if you will. For us everyday sober people of functioning society, looking for music that makes sense for our current chemical composition, I don't think this album will give us much pleasure. I suspect that this was written primarily for a very deep and personal existential achievement for Victor Miranda Martin. Additionally, it is for those people who are looking for an album to speak to them (literally) directly on a deeper plane, possibly when they are high.
I have heard people say that you really need to listen to this album a few times before you "get it"; this is true. However, when you do get it, there is not as much of a reward in terms of great melodies or musical climaxes, at least not as much as Petrichor. For the qualities that make up good music in this prog-metal area of the musical world, this album falls flat. Even after many repeated listens, there are not many memorable compositional moments on the album such as good riffs or melodies. Most of what you will remember are the lyrics which are very hit or miss. Overall, the untempered self-indulgence, a lack of musical focus, and the attempt to be overly random and quirky are the potential downfalls of Tearoom. If it wasn't for the masterful recording and production, this would sound kind of like a student's final project for a creative music class.
