Album Reviews : Taberah – The Light of Which I Dream

You know that you’re in a bloody good band if Lemmy Kilmister of all people has handpicked your band to open for Motorhead at one of their shows. That’s how I first heard of Tasmanian metallers Taberah, and a few months after that show they released their debut album “The Light of Which I Dream”. I also never knew about the album until I was reading a review about it in Blunt magazine, however, the review was nothing about the music. The first line was just quoted lyrics, and the rest was a hilarious rant on power metal.

When I was sent the album to listen to, I could see why Lemmy picked the band to open for Motorhead. Taberah have thrown stylings from a wide range of bands into their music, and added their own modern twist to it, creating an aggressive, dynamic piece of music. The production of the album is fairly raw, which to me makes it sound a lot heavier, and you can hear every instrument clearly, even the bass.

The intro to the album is an instrumental build up, which starts off as a quick minute sound clip of horses running, followed by some synth, a nice drumbeat and guitars chugging the low E string to the drumbeat. “Brothers of the Fire” opens with a tough, face punching riff highly influenced by Metallica, and at first listen it gave me a little bit of a shock when the vocals kicked in. With a riff as tough as what I’d heard, I was expecting to hear lower, less clear vocals, but instead I heard the complete opposite. Either way, I still like the vocals, and the lyrics are very easy to pick up, as the singers voice is very clear. The traditional heavy metal sound with Manowar influenced lyrics were a treat, aswell as the catchy lyrics to go in the powerful chorus (“Metal in our hearts, fire in our veins, do not fuck with us, you’ll never be the same.”)

The album softens a bit throughout the middle, as the acoustic guitar is pulled out for the beautiful “Ballad of Ruby Joy”. It’s very heartfelt, and I can only presume that it was written about a loved one. The acoustics follow into the title track, but the chords change and sound darker for the 7 and a half minute epic. The first two minutes is another instrumental build up, and going into the verses show some Iron Maiden like guitar work, as well as a chorus that sounds like a mixture between Queen and Stryper.

Just like they’ve been labelled as, Taberah are not a power metal band, but there is no doubt some influence from power metal, and my favourite track of the album “Freedom or Death” shows that. The solos in it are a good example of the power metal influence, with help from Lord Tim and Mark Furtner of Australian power metal giants LORD, so if you know who that band is, you probably already have an understanding of how outrageous the solos are. More influence is shown on the next track “Requiem of the Damned”, which is flat out fast the whole way through with over-the-top intensity.

There’s a lot to expect from Taberah, a lot more than just sticking to one genre, and definitely a lot more than a group of “metal purists who argue about guitar tones over games of Warhammer” (as quoted by Blunt Magazine). They’re a band that will definitely have a love or hate relationship, but if you listen to it well, I’m sure you’d enjoy it. 8/10

 
Band: Taberah

Album: The Light of Which I Dream

Year: 2011
Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Unsigned
Origin: Tasmania, Australia

Track listing: 
1. The Descent
2. Brothers of the Fire (reviewers choice)
3. The Call of Evil
4. Fearless
5. Stormchild
6. The Ballad of Ruby Joy
7. The Light of Which I Dream
8. Freedom or Death (reviewers choice)
9. Requiem of the Damned
10. The Reaper