Review TAROT ‘Glimpse of the Dawn’

It was back in 2011 when Tarot was founded in Hobart, Australia. ‘Reflections’ is the title of the debut album which was launched in 2016 and it took a while before Tarot release the sophomore album.

The band is now part of the Cruz del Sur portfolio, which is a promising thing, knowing the quality of bands that release via the Italian label. With ‘Glimpse of the Dawn’ the second studio album is on the way, and it features an eight song tracklist. Tarot is passionate about the warm and organic sound of the late 70s. Bands like Uriah Heep influenced the five-piece but also the sound of Deep Purple and Rainbow left a mark. The inspirational impact of the latter is what echoes in songs like the well-crafted ‘Echoes Through Time’.

Interesting, that is also the partly psychedelic sounding instrumental ‘The Harrier’ before keyboards kick off ‘The Vagabond’s Return’ and herald a continuation of a trip through the sound of the seventies.

Also to mention is the galloping ‘The Winding Road’ as the song reflects the sound of Tarot very well. At the same time, ‘The Winding Road’ brings the weaker part of the album to the fore. Based on some good idea, the song has a lot of potential but feels a bit lengthy after a while. This has nothing to do with the running time. What’s missing are the attention-catching highlights. The song gently moves on and suffers a bit from uniformity especially when it comes to the vocal lines. Although everything is though through in a good fashion there is this extra spice missing that lifts an album from good to great.

To sum up. Folks, loving the warm sound of the 70s will certainly appreciate ‘Glimpse of the Dawn’. The album comes with a great sound and delivers very solid rock with roots in another musical century. Let’s keep Tarot on the radar and see where things are heading to in the future.