Taberah – Welcome To The Crypt (Album Review)

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Gareth Williams

Welcome To The Crypt is a surprising 6 track EP for many reasons…

Taberah – Welcome to The Crypt

OUT: 10^th June 2016

Taberah Line Up:

Jonathon Barwick | Guitar/Vocals
Myles Flood | Guitar
Tom Brockman | Drums
Dave Walsh | Bass

Just south of Victoria floats a tiny island only accessible by ferry, where not paying the ferryman will get you stranded. A land of rolling hills, tall forests and babbling brooks. A land of wonder, almost forgotten by time, where misty mornings give way to cool sunny days (when it’s not pissing down with rain). A magical, special place home to mythical creatures like Ricky Ponting and Errol Flynn. Deep in the south of this wondrous place is where the real magic happens, in a tiny hamlet nestled between the ocean and steep mountains, a little town called Hobart.

Late one sleepy Hobart night a rumbling was heard, like thunder. The sound of a thousand horses galloping along the plains, a piercing scream as lightning bolts shot from the sky. You can smell the sulphur in the air. As the clouds parted and the smoke cleared four warriors of metal stood, destined to bring happiness to the masses. The mighty Taberah was born!

Photo credit: Dan Cripps Photography

Welcome To The Crypt is Taberah’s second EP and fourth release overall (not counting the two early demos). These Tasmanians play metal, with a big nod towards power metal. If you haven’t yet heard Taberah, think Helloween, Blind Guardian with a dash of Iron Maiden and Motörhead.

Welcome To The Crypt is a surprising 6 track EP for many reasons, not least of all because the Apple Isle natives looked locally and to the mainland to call on the services of a motley crew of Australia’s best metal heads including Lord Tim and Mark Furtner (Lord), Joe Haley (Psycroptic), David Van Pelt (Divine Ascension), Stu Marshall (Death Dealer) and Brendan Farrugia (Envenomed). This collaborative effort is focused almost solely on the third track ‘Battle For The Sun’ and at 5 minutes 41 seconds, it is pure shredding heaven. It’s a song you could leave on repeat for a week and just bathe in the metal goodness. The two preceding tracks are in a similar vein, with the title track featuring Jonathon Barwick’s choral-like vocals entwined with soaring guitar solos, and supported by crunching galloping riffs. Like the second track, a re-recording of ‘Requiem Of The Damned’, it has all the right elements of good metal songs, tortured souls, battles of good and evil, death, destruction… you get the idea.

The surprise comes in on the 4^th track ‘Folklord’. Someone mustn’t have paid the electricity bill, because Taberah have gone acoustic! But there’s something familiar about the song, something it took me a while to put my finger on. I won’t post any spoilers in this review but I will say the theme continues into the next track ‘Alice’s Requiem’. The final track, ‘Blueschild’ has the electricity switched back on and all is right with the world of Taberah again, well almost. Again there’s a surprising twist. What I will say is these four maniacs from Hobart have a wicked sense of humour and their playfulness is on full display.

Don’t take my word for it. Grab a copy of Welcome To The Crypt and enjoy all that it has to offer.

I’m giving Welcome To The Crypt 9 Tassie Devils out of 10

Gareth Williams

Track list: