Labels: Rise Above
Review by: Alex Deller
To tell you the truth, most of this witchy ‘occult’ rock stuff passes me by as it tends to be a bit, uhh, silly. This, though, the debut 7″ from California’s Taarkus, sits just right, but even after countless listens I’m still not quite sure why. The two songs are built from misty female vocals, slowly surging organ tones and wending flute passages to create something that’s dour and undeniably doom-laden despite the lack of crashing riffs. It’s a classic sound but one that’s by no means stuffy or staid, coming across like first-album Sabbath tunes played by members of Jethro Tull, Black Widow and Lucifer’s Friend … something that certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste but has proven more than enough to lure even a sceptic like me on down to the Sabbat. Could it be magic(k)?