It’s been three years since I reviewed Tiberius’ The Beautiful Ones and this follow-up (their debut full album) caught me by surprise as it dropped a couple of days ago. I’m glad they gave me a kick up the arse to let me know as otherwise I’d have missed out on a great listen.
Only
part way through the opening track, “The New Subjugation” and I was hooked. With elements of prof, tech and melodic metal in their repertoire it was the vocals that really caught my ear floating above the rhythms. The closest band in of sound I could name to you offhand would be Alter Bridge. That’s not to say that Tiberius don’t have their own sound. “Skylark” in particular really starts to emphasise the complex guitarwork and rhythmic patterns you’d expect from something a little more proggy.
This, however, doesn’t overshadow the tunes themselves – something I’ve found other bands do, emphasising the choppy rhythms and (for me) making the music quite uncomfortable to listen to. Tiberius have got the mixture just right, not only in of the songwriting but in the studio mix as well. Production is superb.
The first listen through had me really just enjoying the melody and the basic shape of each song. As you become familiar with each track, the intricacies under the surface are revealed and the hidden depths are exposed for you to explore. As such, it’s an easy album to get into but a hard to one to let go of.
If you want to check it out yourself, it’s embedded from bandcamp below. If you want to throw money at them for it, wait till next Friday (and potentially other “first Fridays of the month” going forward) when bandcamp are foregoing their commission.
