Splendor Solis by The Tea Party

Splendor Solis, the Tea Party's second album, arrived in 1993 as the Canadian trio's first release on a major label, EMI Music Canada, and they made the jump look easy. Jeff Martin, Jeff Burrows and Stuart Chatwood, on bass and keyboards, had been together since the band's founding, and they play hard rock with an air of mystery about it, heavy on atmosphere and heavier on drama, a record that wants to cast a spell as much as it wants to rock.

Canada bit hard: the album went platinum in 1994, picked up a Juno nomination for Best Hard Rock Album, and got the band a nod for Best New Group as well. "A Certain Slant of Light" is the moody pick, and The Edges of Twilight came next.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.