Review THE TEA PARTY ‘Blood Moon Rising’

Rock from Canada has a long tradition. Bands like Rush, Danko Jones, Harem Scarem and many others have their home base in the land with the maple leaf. Another band that has been somewhat forgotten in recent years is The Tea Party.

The Tea Party is Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows. All three are founding members and also reflect the current line-up of the band. It was in 1991 that the trio made their debut and was something of a springboard for the band. Other albums followed, some of them very successful. A long break between 2006 and 2011 belongs to the history of the band as well as the reunion in 2012. It took two years until the band released another album with ‘The Ocean at the End’. After that it became very quiet again about the trio from Toronto.

But now the three guys come back with a new album, which contains new, but also already known. ‘Blood Moon Rising’ is the title of the new release which is based on the last EP ‘Black River’. All four songs plus the Led Zeppelin cover ‘Out on the Tiles’ have been released already and are part of the new album too. What might sound a bit like money-making makes more sense when you know that the EP was self-released and will now be available to the many fans via Blood Moon Rising.

The album, which will be released through Inside Out Music, contains more than just the very enjoyable songs from the EP, though.

‘Sunshower’ is one of these new tracks, which is quite pleasing. Calmer yet determined, the three Canadians rock through this song. ‘Our Love’ is a rather atmospheric piece with a dark core. What follows is ‘Hole in my Heart’, a well-crafted rock song with buzzing guitars and a decent groove.

Two other covers on the album are also interesting. ‘Isolation’, by Joy Division and the Morrissey cover ‘Everyday is Like Sunday’ are well done and fit very well with the rest of the tracks on the album.

‘Blood Moon Rising’ is The Tea Party’s return, at least as far as a full-length release is concerned. The three guys from Toronto deliver a great record that combines the familiar, the new and the interesting all on this one. ‘Blood Moon Rising’ is very listenable and fun from start to finish.