Produced by Paul and Josh Flood
Released: 2009
Hobart's Taberah wanted to do something different for their first official release, so they went to the village of Deloraine in the north of Tasmania and played live to tape in a theatre there. The resulting EP "Live... ish" is six tracks of enthusiastic metal delivered with a youthful exuberence and immediacy that might otherwise have been lost in the surrounds of a real studio. The vocals and overall songwriting tends to let them down, but what they lack in some areas they more than make up for in energy and musical chops.
The EP opens with "Brothers of the Fire", an old-school power metal tune delivered with a brash, disarming cheekiness that negates the cheesiness of the lyrics ("metal in our hearts/fire in our veins/Do! Not! Mess with us!/You'll never be the same") and sets the tone for the entire release. Jonathon Barwick's vocals are under-developed and the band's style is similarly imperfect, but Taberah bristles with urgency and enthusiasm. Their attempt at "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was ill-advised, the lyrics to "The Reaper" are so bad they actually spoil the good work the band does musically and "Stormchild" is blatant Dungeon worship. Yet it's hard not to like them because they're obviously having a blast.
Whether they realised it or not, cutting live-to-tape was precisely the right thing for these guys to do. A proper studio recording would have sounded contrived and probably shown up their weaknesses a lot more. "Live... ish" allows them to play to their strengths--youthful on-stage abandon and catchy riffs and melodies like those in "The Call of Evil". Taberah still have some growing to do, but they haven't made that bad a start.
- Brothers of the Fire
- The Call of Evil
- Stormchild
- Freedom or Death
- The Reaper
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Rating: 65%
No comments:
Post a Comment