One of our favourite bands of 2015 – who just offered us the release of ‘The Warrior’s Spell’, compiling their three EP cassette tracks and two new songs – Tarot have completed their first full-length album entitled ‘Reflections’. The band – who hail from Hobart, Tasmania – capture the mystical atmosphere created by bands like Rainbow, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash, while putting their own spin on things, creating a unique sound.
The track list for ‘Reflections’ is ‘Autumn Conjuration’, ‘Heed the Call’, ‘Strange Dimensions’, ‘Cloak and Dagger’, ‘Reflections’, ‘Mountain Throne’ and ‘Living For Today’.
Cover artwork was designed by Karmazid and the pre-order of the CD will start on January 25 via frontman The Hermit’s label, Heavy Chains Records. The pre-order package will include a poster of the artwork and an A3 size fold out lyric sheet.
‘Reflections’ will be released on vinyl later in 2016 by Ván Records.
Majestic hard rock from Tasmania. Not a description we use very often! Formed in 2011, Tarot released three cassette EPs during 2014 and then in 2015 these songs – including two new ones – were compiled for ‘The Warrior’s Spell’ album. “We don’t consider it to be a full-length album, rather a look at the all the band’s output up until that point”, says frontman Will Fried, AKA The Hermit, who also happens to be the owner of Heavy Chains Records.
According to him, the mystical names behind the band, such as The Hermit, The Hierophant and The Magician are taken from tarot card suites and they chose to use pseudonyms so that the listener focuses entirely on the music they play, rather than who is playing it.
Musically, Tarot wants to capture the same mystical atmosphere created by bands like Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash et al, all the while putting their own spin on things. “I think we have our own sound that incorporates these elements”, The Hermit believes, but words are also important. “In my opinion the lyrics of Tarot are better left to the listener to interpret in their own way, as for me they are … Read More
Even if their main composer and guitar player Ola Blomqvist – former head honcho of Sweden’s I Hate Records – strongly affirms this is no public relations masterplan, because ever since their inception back in 2004 the epic doom defenders of Griftegård (old Swedish word for ‘graveyard’) have been cultivating a certain aura of mystery around them with only a handful and carefully selected number of shows and even fewer releases. With Thomas Eriksson from Year Of The Goat fronting, they got started right after the premature demise of the greatly promising yet desperately short-lived The Doomsday Cult with whom they initially shared three members. “It’s funny you’re mentioning this because these days, people rarely mention the two bands in the same sentence and if it happens, it is old school people like yourself,” Blomqvist shrugs. “Now, would Griftegård have existed if TDC continued? The answer is yes, simply, because I needed to express that specific concept.” Heavily mystical in its lyrical approach, their 2009 debut album ‘Solemn. Sacred. Severe’ was sometimes mistaken by some as Christian metal while as Blomqvist clarifies that it’s true he’s “truly fascinated by the religious aesthetics and their inherent effect on the human psyche/soul and … Read More
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