The only album released by Peruvian band Tarkus (featuring members of Telegraph Avenue), from 1972, is a heavy psych/hard rock masterpiece with echoes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Only a handful of promotional copies were made available at the time of its release, making it for years a true lost classic and one of the rarest records of Latin American rock.
Tarkus was born after the 1971 split of Telegraph Avenue, one of the most popular Peruvian bands at the time. TA member Walo Carrillo was joined by Argentinian musicians Guillermo Van Lacke, whom he had met previously in Lima, and 16-year-old Darío Gianella. They got together and started making music very influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Deep Purple.
They immediately developed a heavy, hard rock sound uncommon in Peru, and asked former Telegraph Avenue member Alex Nathanson to join them. They recorded their first album between April and May of 1972 for the MAG record label, which was expecting something closer to Telegraph Avenue and didn't know how to market such a heavy sound.
Soon after, guitarist and main composer Darío Gianella decided to leave the band to follow his religious faith, just before they presented their debut LP live. As a result, the band disintegrated without making their official debut and only a few copies of the album were actually distributed. Time has given this LP the significance it rightly deserves as one of the foundations of Latin American hard rock.
"For every copy of one of the great and collectible rock albums one finds on Peru's stalwart MAG label, one has a dashed dream about finding Tarkus, one of South America's whispered hard rock holy grails. I've never found one, and I've been looking for the better part of two decades. It's a fiery set of Black Sabbath style jamming and worthy of its praise." - Eothen Alapatt aka Egon (Now Again)
