Tales of Autumn
In Madness We Trust

Ramblings of a maniac opens this album that is very trusting in the madness department, it is an album that seems focused on mental problems, psychiatric issue and things like that. I think that’s an interesting approach, madness is fun and the artwork looks pretty dark and exciting, which is a great addition to the promise of this album. The album is the debut of this British band called Tales of Autumn and it is called In Madness We Trust. The band releases the album themselves and if you consider the title it is promoted in a rather conventional way, it would have been more fun and more exciting had they gone a bit mad. Perhaps they could have sent the album on 8-track or phonograph record and instead of the press sheet they could have sent LSD or a bottle of tap water – that would have been fun. But as the guys make music and not art we can expect only the regular stuff, so I guess I have to focus on the music.

An album that fits the description of the progressive rock or perhaps the progressive metal genre, it is built to that format. The sound is fairly dark and perhaps a little bit dramatic even though the madness and maniac ramblings are not really there. Good vocals and I like the sound but the album can’t be described as original or a show of fresh thinking. The tracks are eight and the playing time sensible, the variation is fairly good as well but the album is not as dark as the cover so at least you will probably not find the album being too long. But as it walks on the most well-threaded paths it will probably not make much of a mark in the scrolls of progressive rock music.

Naturally it is a bit towards the downside of the scale with the band not really breaking new ground of being excitingly mad. I would have liked to be able to write things like madness, maniac, depression, darkness, depth and things like that but there is very little such refreshing psychiatric or mad things throughout the album. It is a very solid effort and a strong debut album with good production and everything, I think that it is a good one to listen to but it doesn’t really stand out. The biggest issue for these guys is not that their album is weak because it isn’t, the issue is that there are many better choices within the progressive rock genre.

The conclusion is therefore that Tales of Autumn has put together a very good debut album; there craftsmanship is pretty flawless. What they need is to find a more personal voice, a more creative voice, and a more exciting voice; they need to do that if they want to make a lasting impression with their music. I would have liked to hear the ramblings of a maniac.

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