TARAMIS - QUEEN OF THIEVES - 1988

Taramis is a somewhat obscure Australian group, whose debut album Queen Of Thieves has a slightly progressive feel but is otherwise straightforward metal, not bad for it's time. Metal Blade apparently saw something in the band, and licensed the album in the US. A few years later, the band resurfaced with a new lineup and album. In general there is more of a progressive feel, and also more of a thrash sound -- Stretch Of The Imagination might remind one of Realm, or perhaps a tamer version of Watchtower. The band broke up in 1994, played a reunion gig in late 1998 (leading to some rumors of a permanent reformation and/or new recordings), and is now permanently disbanded.
http://www.bnrmetal.com

"Queen Of Thieves" is power metal with some progressive touches. The second effort is much better, putting the band on line with progressive thrash heroes like Watchtower, Realm, etc. The bad thing is that of the 8 songs on it there are only 4 which fit the classification above. Some moments from their power metal past are still present ("Delayed Reaction", "Diceman"), and they kind of spoil the picture, since they have very little to do with the other much more interesting material. The longer and more technical tracks are truly a revelation ("Dreaming, "A Maze of Glory"), although they are intercepted by some balladic, semi-acoustic sections from time to time. The singer is another highlight, possessing a powerful high-pitched tember similar to Jeoff Tate from Queensryche, but deeper. "Jigaboo Boogie" is a funky instrumental, which could have been a nice touch, if it had been half as long, but 5-min of this offbeat stuff... excuse me! The next track" "Lonely Star", which is a semi-ballad of the more melodic variety, puts the second half more on the dull side. Perhaps on the next release the flaws would have been fixed, but this band disappeared shortly after.
http://www.thethrashmetalguide.com