Napoleon has been making their mark in the heavy progressive music scene since 2012. In 2016 they released an anticipated debut Newborn Mind that release led to headlining tours with Counterparts and August Burns Red. The trio did not take any time off and are back with their sophomore album Epiphany (Basick Records). The album has a lot to offer—impressive techniques and profound delivery to a sound that is recognizable by the Napoleon name. Continue reading
What are the advantages of re-releasing an obscure demo from 1989? Bringing more quality music to the awareness of people who will enjoy it should be the main answer, of course, but in a world where music is more accessible than it has ever been that argument is perhaps weaker than it once was, and most obscure demos will have been matched or surpassed since their release.
Historical importance, of course, is what really makes the unearthing of ancient treasures worthwhile – hearing the demo which inspired that scene, or influenced that band to change their style, or was the first time we heard Drummer X play a blast beat. How valuable that kind of historical research really is to a modern listener, and to what extent it can cover the gaps in a rough production and sloppy playing, is entirely up to the listener to decide, but Metal has a history, and being aware of it seems a valid concern to most of us.
So, what if that obscure demo is actually a brand-new release from a young band? The historical value argument vanishes altogether, leaving the quality of the music to stand-alone, often crippled by deliberately sloppy production values chosen by conscious aesthetic rather than economic necessity. Obscure Burial are one of a number of young bands whose entire purpose in being is to sound like an under-produced South American rehearsal tape from twenty-five years ago. They play raw, dirty Metal that straddles the point where Death, Thrash and Black Metals collide so vigorously that it could just as readily be described as any of them, and isn’t above sharing its bedroom with Punk either.
Epiphany (self-released) is a confident and well-realised snapshot of a band who clearly know exactly what they want to be – but when their target is to ape the limitations and boundaries of bands defunct long before they were born, it can be hard to be sure just how worthwhile that ambition really is. If there’s a space in your collection for vintage Black/Death/Thrash That Never Was, you could certainly do worse – but does anyone really need that many Sarcofago albums?
5.0/10
RICHIE HR