Taipan (Aus) - Taipan (Ep) (320)

line-up :

Emilio Sarpa - Vocals/Bass
Dave Zerafa - Vocals/Guitars
Frank Degennaro - Drums

Review :

An early Australian oddity, Taipan are a four-piece hardly anyone goes to great lengths to hear. While on the commercial side, their sound doesn’t wear the glittering spandex of glam, nor does it possess that every-song-could-be-a-ballad Dokken-esque appeal. The production is loud, lively, and unapologetic, wholeheartedly complimenting the band’s no-frills, undisguised power that sticks a foot in the doorway of NWOBHM without stepping on Maiden’s trampled toes and is as traditional as it comes. In fact, I believe the mix is the lifeforce of the disk, nearly coming off as recorded live while the band was in a really enterprising mood.

These four tracks can easily enliven a failing party. The fact that these tunes are as unknown as the band wouldn’t matter; they radiate invigoration despite a simple traditional formula that probably wouldn’t offend the pop freaks at the gathering, while Darkthrone fans would either use this time to take a leak in the yard or be grateful the Billboard top 40-fest is finally starting to clench its ass cheeks, depending on the selection of prior music. “Break Out”, “Lady”, “Tired of You” and “The Cellar” are all up-tempo and momentous without repeating the same speed or timing, each song’s structuring is relatively divergent from one another, and solos are vibrantly executed. They seem to have an ear for simplicity and catchiness that wisely replaces the sugary topping with something spicier and heady that is in part due to the production.

Vocalist/bassist Emilio Sarpa can resemble a rougher Vince Neil, dwelling in the high/mids with a scratchy side that almost equals his time singing cleanly, but does dig into a lower mid tone during “The Cellar”, the slowest and least commercial song that chugs almost exactly like “Seek And Destroy” and melts some extra heaviness on the end. Actually, quite a few similarities in the two can be found, including that brief downscaling melody that sets up the later song’s chorus, but I know I’m just grasping here.

In hindsight, 1981 was a good year for the quartet to record this ep. It’s early enough to avoid the mid-80’s pretty eruption of glam and the inevitable and incorrect lumping of them into it. As well, it’s late enough to leap beyond 70’s corporate rock limitations bands like August Redmoon, Demon, and Americade couldn’t bypass. For the time, it’s pretty cutting edge, so I don’t know why it went ashamedly unnoticed.

1.	Breakout	03:08
2.	Lady	03:31
3.	Tired Of You	03:10
4.	The Cellar	04:39
Total playing time		14:28

Download Link

Pass : http://demo-series.blogspot.com/