Torman Maxt - The Foolishness Of God

Year of Release: 2001
Label: Mars Hill Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 51:03:00

Cool! This must be progressive rock's answer to the Hanson brothers - heh-heh. No, just kidding, the only thing this band has in common with the aforementioned band is that the three members of Torman Maxt are all brothers. And that is a rarity. The Foolishness Of God is Torman Maxt's second effort and the follow up to Just Talking About the Universe ... So Far.

Torman Maxt play progressive rock with a 70s vibe with hints of pomp rock. This is not progressive rock in the sense of intricate passages and time changes, as Torman Maxt have created their own unique style of prog rock, combining a lot of acoustic arrangements with distorted guitar. On top of that you get versatile and interesting vocal melodies and harmonies. Vocalist Tony Massaro should get credit for his inventive use of mid-to-high ranged vocals and vocal sound, reminiscent of Rush singer Geddy Lee.

Clearly the band members are all very talented and skilled musicians, but it is the repertoire that needs some more work. The first 5 songs are very good and by far the best on the album. After these songs there are a number of less interesting tracks with a couple of good tracks towards the end. I would say that at their best, Torman Maxt is almost genius with tracks like "Silence Isn't Golden," "Vanity Explored" and "Ghost Town" but at their worst they sound uninspired and boring. I feel that they occasionally just wander off into meaningless and messy instrumental parts. The production by guitarist and vocalist Tony Massaro is decent, kind of raw sounding, which is all right with me, but it sometimes strikes me as too flat. More depth would be preferred. Still, for a self-produced CD it gets my approval.

I did enjoy this album or at least most of it. The good tracks are really good and show that Torman Maxt can write some excellent tunes. On the other hand, there is a lot of filler material here, so if you can better listen, do so before buying. I will not write this band off as I feel they have an unfulfilled potential. If they could focus more on writing strong melody-lines (like the above-mentioned songs) for the next album, we could be in for a surprise.

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
From The Inside (Part 1): Vanity Explored (4:54) / Ghost Town (3:15) / External Perspectives: City Of Man (5:15) / The Stage (3:24) / Space And Time (5:06) / Off This Planet (2:13) / The China Song (6:49) / From The Inside (Part 2): 40 Days (3:59) / Life Sketches III: Sin (1:43) / Silence Isn't Golden (3:34) / Foolishness: Life Sketches IV: Eternity (2:45) / The Foolishness Of God (10:46)

Musicians:
Tony Massaro - guitar, vocals
Vincent Massaro - drums
Dominic Massaro - bass

Discography:
Just Talking About The Universe?So Far
The Foolishness Of God (2001)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin US

Added: March 29th 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.tormanmaxt.com
Hits: 2298
Language: english