TDW (Tom Di Wit) is a unknown (to me) progressive metal outfit from The Netherlands, sent me their fifth release ‘The Haunts’ At first I wasn’t impressed by the cover art but I always remember to never judge a band that way. I gave it a listen and was rather impressed by the music. It has qualities of bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Dream Theater to name a few but thankfully sound nothing like those bands. The music of TDW is primarily progressive metal yet they are that in the “traditional” sense, since they add progressive rock, gothic and power metal which gives rather interesting results.
‘The Haunts’ is a concept album about a character named Juan who feels emotions more intensely than other people. As he ventures into the world in the year 2006. Juan finds it very difficult in dealing with these emotions and it eventually leads to his destruction. Pretty heavy concept I’d say.
From the opening song "Chameleon" to the closing epic title track, I was mesmerized by all the sounds. There is never cliques that would label them as a typical progressive rock or gothic, progressive metal band. They truly explore the musical spectrum. I found myself after several listens, very hooked.
My favorite tracks are “2006 A.D.“, “Home”, both parts of “Wake Up” and the epic title track, which is worth the price alone. In whole this is one of the better albums I’ve heard in years. I would recommend fans of heavier music that want variety as well as power.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on Janaury 9th, 2009
