Tiberius – Singing For Company
Tiberius – Singing For Company
Self Released
Release Date: 21/03/2025
Review by Beth Morait
8.5/10
Tiberius is a name that I hadn’t come across before, until they completed our EMQs interview. That got me intrigued to check out their music, and luckily, their new album was sitting in our review queue! It was clearly written in the stars. So, who are they, and what do they do? Well, they’re a Scottish quintet who play Prog Rock. And it turns out they’ve been around for quite some time, with this being, from what I can see, their 4th release.
As soon as the opening track ‘New Revelation’ begins, it’s clear to see that this is going to be good, thought-provoking music. Orchestral strings, horns, and timpani start this call to arms, along with the solitary vocal line of front man Grant Barclay. His tone instantly grabbed me. In terms of register, range, and vibrato, it’s Bruce Dickinson. But it’s got a gentler, more silky and sultry tone, which I find really appealing.
When the music kicks in, and for the rest of the album, we’re treated to good, solid Hard Rock/ Melodic Heavy Metal, with Proggy Twists. Put it all together and we have classic Maiden, but if they were a prog band. Catchy riffs, and epic Guitar solos, alongside some of the most pleasing noodling and wandering Bass lines, which give everything a sense of urgency and pace. But the Prog twists come in the complex rhythms and changes within songs, that seem to float in effortlessly, but that completely change the direction of things.
Things take a turn for the heavier in the intro of ‘Tip Of The Spear’ which sets out at blistering speed, with ludicrously complex guitar work and thundering drums that really do lapse into the Classic Heavy Metal end of things, but with a modern sounding tone on the Bass, that keeps things current.
This is followed by ‘Mosaic’ which, if you thought you’d switched albums in the last track, brings things firmly back to Hard Prog Rock. Starting with a riff that’s got more augmented accidentals than you could shake a Prog stick at, we’re launched into a song that’s got the melodies and choruses of a Stadium Rock anthem, with the instrumentation of a Dream Theater pleaser. This track ends pretty abruptly, which I’m not sure I like for this particular song, although it’s in keeping with the whole Prog thing.
‘Juggernaut’ is just full on Maiden, and there’s not really much else to say! 3 minutes and 26 seconds of powerful Classic Heavy Metal, with some cross rhythms for that Prog hook, but essentially just really good Heavy Metal, that does what it says on the tin. Fast and furious, barraging through your eardrums.
The album closes with ‘Touch The Past’, which basically blends everything we’ve already had, and turns it into a Maiden/ Dream Theater Tiberius smoothy, with Coheed and Cambria garnish. This, for me, is by far the most interesting track on the album, and it’s also the only track that breaches the 6-minute mark, making it proper Prog!! I love the vocal harmonies here too. Not sure if it’s a female voice that I can here in there, and there’s no mention of a guest vocalist on the press release, so I’m still in the dark. But the two vocal lines work really well together.
This is a very pleasing album. And if you like any of the aforementioned bands then you’re going to love what Tiberius do.
TRACKLISTING:
01. New Revelation
02. Soul Saviour
03. Tip Of The Spear
04. Mosaic
05. Singing For Company
06. Juggernaut
07. The Iliad Flow
08. Touch The Past
LINKS:
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