Haha, I got ya there, right? You thought that good ol’ RMR would treat you to some Hietala fare from Finland. But not so. This here Tarot greets you from down under where they eat Vegemite Sandwich all day long, as Men At Work told us so many eons ago.1 When they’re not hunting crocodiles or shooting the shit in the local swamp bar, that is.
And the band’s specialty? It ain’t metal, that’s for sure. Glimpse of the Dawn sends you straight back to the ’70s of the last millennium. That’s when early prog rock went on a rampage and nobody really paid any heed to it. That’s because rock was kinda new and exciting back then. Everybody was experimenting with substance-fueled rock ‘n’ roll and outrageous psychedelic excesses. Wanton destruction of guitars on stage and free love were quite normal. Some unseemly thoughts for our ‘modern times’ with its more puritan airs.
Tarot is one of those bands that stopped us cold already with their mystical artwork. A newly invented sort of basilisk in a magical forest that already warranted a closer look at this record. And yes, I know, one should not do that, usually. Of course, the band’s feisty credo boasting – and I quote – “… vintage, earthy 1970s hard rock done right…” helped pique our interest some more.
So, here we are. And sure enough, the moment Glimpse of the Dawn takes off, hints of early prog rock à la Jethro Tull, Rainbow, Genesis, Yes, or – again – Uriah Heep suddenly emerge. Its style feels like a rockier sibling of Wobbler. Or, a modern offshoot of latter-day Strawbs that suddenly emerged in search of new greener pastures.2 Now, does this sound like just a wee-bit too much name-dropping? Maybe so, but it is at the same time also symptomatic. The band sure seems to deliver all that it promised after all.
Tarot indeed master the art of those old prog rock delights that some of us have wallowed in for decades. You get the toned-down frugal guitars, the masterful solos, and the good ol’ Hammond warble that didn’t make us cringe for once. The band put a ton of effort into recreating the sounds and moods of long-gone times, including the typical synth samples that were prevalent back then. Fancy some examples? Just head over to the funky Leshy’s Warning or the Heep-ish Echos Through Time. Those two tracks will give you an inkling of the essence of Glimpse of a Dawn.
The production cannot shake this rough-hewn garage look and feel of a band caught recording tracks live in a studio. And sure enough, many of the parts were written and committed to tape on the spot, directly in the studio. They called this catching “…lightning in a bottle…”, a turn of phrase that might sound too divine for some. But you get the gist. And they indeed create this down-home, rocky sound to show for. Black Sabbath did something similar with their self-titled album that – allegedly – was recorded in one single 12-hour session playing the life set. And they truly caught the lightning in more ways than one, I daresay.
Ultimately though, Glimpse of a Dawn won’t mimic any single one of those old bands out there. Instead, they went for their very own colorful mix that wafts up from the distant past. And you get exactly what they promised. ’70s-style rock that continues to dazzle us after all these years. A record full of oldish delights without any further ornaments or other modern accouterments. And, did they ascend to their lofty goal to deliver oldish “…hard rock done right…”? Quite so, to the point that we seemed to hear Ken Hensley‘s3 ghost rummaging about backstage somewhere. But then, perhaps it was just a trick of the ear.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Cruz Del Sur | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 12 April 2024