This debut album from Tao is melodic rock of the highest order. With all songs written by Ten’s Gary Hughes the band are on to a winner.
That core band being vocalist Karen Fell, guitarist Chris Gould and bassist Dave Rosingana.
The Hughes/Ten connection is more evident with not only Rosingana but also the always excellent Darrel Treece-Birch handling keyboard duties.
The roster of big names involved here includes Dennis Ward taking care of mixing and mastering.
Karen Fell has a marvellously rich voice. Chris Gould’s guitar is punchy and measured nicely to fit the songs. Dave Rosingana puts out some tasty bass lines and Darrel Treece-Birch’s keys round it out nicely.
The hooks and melodies abound and are infectious. There’s quite some bite going on as well. Gets in to your head from first listen and demands further attention.
Check out the opener – Nobody But You. It drives along with the punchy riff, well-paced delivery, Fells powerful vocals and an impossibly catchy hook and chorus. Have a look:
The remainder of the album delivering the goods equally effectively. In particular Breathe In Breath Out, Fire in the Sky and the title track Prophecy. A trio of superb melodic rockers with attitude and more of those irresistible hooks and melodies. All of so catchy.
The occasional slower more ballad tinged numbers – such as Angels and Clandestine Fools and Might Just Break Your Heart – do not disappoint and avoid being overly sugary as these types of songs sometimes tend to be.
Hughes crops up on backing vocals and keys for Nazarene (another ridiculously infectious hook) and Gone Forever.
Prophecy has been top of my playlist since it was released earlier this month and it’ll remain there for a while yet.
With such a heavyweight crew behind them, Tao have a debut album which oozes class from first note to last. For those of you familiar with Ten and Gary Hughes – his influence is clear and that’s no bad thing.