Saber Tiger
The Shade of Holy Light

The Shade of Holy Light is the new release by the Japanese metal guys Saber Tiger, the title track comes from the 2018 album Obscure Diversity and then it is spiced up with some live tracks. We get three versions of the title track, it opens with a symphonic version, then we have the one from the album and a live version. It is an EP with little extra tracks and it has me wondering why, why was it released?

It is the Japanese style of heavy metal that fans of the tigers already know, it has some progressive edge and it has a symphonic version of the title track. It will not be surprising to anyone who know the band and their music. There isn’t too much variation, it is mostly live tracks and then there is three versions of the title track. The sound on the live tracks can be described as good and the sound on the title track is good, just like it was when it appeared on the album the year before. Long for an EP and it doesn’t bring anything really new to the table.

If I was collecting Saber Tiger releases I would look upon this with a sense of annoyance as it seems like a completely unnecessary album. Why release an EP with a track from an album as the title and then some live tracks, why not do a real live release instead? This is not bad, but it is pointless, meaningless, and any other word for not really bringing anything of value into the world of music. I don’t think this one is bad, but the title track is already on an album and the live tracks doesn’t really add anything of value to the Saber Tiger fan – perhaps they were biting for more than they could chew, no claws here.

When there are so many meaningless releases in the world of music, why add to it with one that even their own fans would see as meaningless? What the world of music needs is less pointless releases and more fresh and interesting stuff, Saber Tiger’s albums show potential for things like that so why release things like this? That’s a mystery.

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