To-Mera
| To-Mera | |
|---|---|
| Origin | South Oxfordshire, England |
| Genres | Progressive metal |
| Years active | 2004–2014 (currently on hiatus) |
| Labels |
Candlelight Records Illusionary Records |
| Associated acts |
Haken Extreme Noise Terror |
| Website | To-Mera website |
| Members | Julie Kiss Thomas MacLean Mark Harrington Richard Henshall Paul Westwood |
| Past members |
Akos Pirisi Hugo Sheppard Lee Barrett |
To-Mera are an English progressive metal band from South Oxfordshire. The band plays a technical style of metal characterized by long songs, multiple time changes and jazz interludes.
Following her departure from the Hungarian progressive metal band Without Face, vocalist Julie Kiss decided to form the band To-Mera with bass player Lee Barrett, former member of Extreme Noise Terror, Disgust and Mussolini Headkick. At the start of 2004 they began searching for full-time members and Akos Pirisi, a huge fan of Meshuggah and a master of polyrhythmics, was brought in on drums. Guitarist Tom MacLean, who was a big fan of Julie Kiss' former band Without Face, was recruited after he recognised Julie and introduced himself at a Dillinger Escape Plan concert. After the band's demo was recorded, To-Mera finally found a full-time keyboard player in the shape of Hugo Sheppard.
The idea for starting a new band came to Julie Kiss immediately after her departure from Without Face. However, it took nearly two years for the final line-up to take shape. The word 'To-Mera' has been loosely translated to mean "The Land of the Pyramid", as cited in The Secret History of Ancient Egypt by Herbie Brennan. However, the true meaning of the word is disputed.
The band recorded their debut demo in July 2005 at The Peel rehearsal rooms in Kingston upon Thames on a laptop, and it was mixed in France by producer Brett Caldas-Lima (Kalisia, Malmonde, Fairlight).
The demo was sent to many webzines and magazines and received universal acclaim. It was nominated "Demo of the Month" at Organ Magazine, Zero Tolerance magazine and Imperiumi.net (Finland). The great reviews led to a number of interested record labels getting in touch. Candlelight Records made a multi-album, worldwide deal with To-Mera, which was signed on 7 January 2006.
To-Mera recorded their debut album Transcendental in May–June 2006, again with producer Brett Caldas-Lima. Drums, guitars and vocals were recorded in Veszprém (Hungary), while the bass and keyboards were recorded in London (England). The audio mixing and mastering took place at Tower Studio in Montpellier (France). The album was released in Europe on 11 September 2006 and 3 October 2006 in the USA.
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