Review: Nospūn – Opus

Style: Progressive Metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, (late) Between the Buried and Me
Review by: Sam
Country: US-NC
Release date: 19 May, 2023

Sometimes when I finish my review, I go back and listen to the album I just covered to make absolutely sure the review reflects my thoughts. As a critic it can be easy to detach from personal preferences and attempt to give a more “objective” rundown of the album’s strengths and weaknesses before landing on a verdict (which is ironic considering I find objectivity to be absolute bullshit in most things in life). When the stress of reviewing is over however, I can drop all pretenses and listen purely for my own personal enjoyment. Usually I do this a while after the review is published when I’ve attained some distance, and occasionally, I notice that my “objective” review didn’t quite line up with my experience as a listener. But never before has this difference been drastic enough that I completely rewrote my review after scheduling it for publishing, until now that is.

Nospūn is an extremely gifted band. Let’s get that out of the way first. I have not heard an underground band this technically impressive in a long time. The stuff these guys pull off is right up there with Dream Theater or Haken at their peak. Speaking of which, there is a very clear influence from both titans in this band’s sound, and various nods to their bodies of work are included. The band strikes a nice balance between old and new progressive metal. There is as much classic metal swagger in the riffs and harmonies as there are djenty grooves and breakdowns, and for every epic unison solo there is a zany interlude. Nearly every song contains moments of brilliance as the band flaunts their skills in playing and composition. Especially for a band that came out of nowhere like these guys, it floors me how good they are. And to make things even better, Opus is a concept album that structurally takes after all-time classic Scenes From a Memory, ensuring strong thematic unity.

The first couple of songs work well enough. In classic concept album fashion, Opus starts with a short conceptual opener followed by an instrumental overture. The band does a good job with them, presenting all the main ideas clearly. The following two tracks are great as well. “The Death of Simpson” is a brooding epic with engaging vocal hooks and two climaxes. It does really well at building and releasing tension, with the acapella section building to the second climax especially standing out. “Dance With Me!” is a lovely upbeat song that builds to a climax in a very natural way along many well integrated twists.

But maaan do I have some grievances. It is probably the least favorite complaint for any prog band to hear, but this band can really overdo it. Take the song “Earwyrm” for example. It starts with one of the coolest, catchiest verses I’ve heard in possibly ever. After some vocoder vocals over a driving bass riff, a cool as fuck riff comes in and singer Phillip Rich leans fully into his theatrical side, channeling his inner Russell Allen as he shouts “I’M LASER FOCUSED, WITH NO TARGET” with huge stage presence and enough grit to make a $1 knife sharp enough to slice through paper. They then transition into circus mode smoothly enough, only to break out of it prematurely with maximum intensity unison soloing into a chorus with big open notes that feels like it belongs in a different song. After one more cool verse and a chorus the song goes absolutely off the rails with technicality and unfortunately, the plot as well. Whereas Dream Theater – for all their faults – was great at reserving the most insane technical chops for the climax of the song, Nospūn just goes all in whenever they feel like it and the song ends up suffering for it. The instrumental song “4D Printing” similarly suffers from over-indulgence and “Back, Yet Forward” could use a whole lot of trimming as well. And don’t get me started on the tonal whiplash of “Within the Realms of Possibility” around 10 minutes in! It’s like I’m listening to “Crystallised” all over again with its goofy break that sucks out all the momentum they built prior. The rest of the song is lovely fortunately, and the closer is a delightful breather track that rounds out the album well.

I am torn on this album, honestly. On one hand, it’s bloody brilliant. Their playing ability is out of this world and they manage to turn their influences into something fresh. But on the other hand, it suffers from the exact same issues that modern prog leaders Haken and Between the Buried and Me do in that they go completely overboard with the prog and eclecticism and end up losing the plot. My initial review was far more positive because of how strong the band’s positive qualities are, but I ended up getting annoyed enough by the (lack of) song direction to end up with what you’re reading now. Which side of the spectrum you fall on, I can only encourage you to find out for yourself. Either way, Opus is an album with tremendous upsides and an incredible achievement for a debut of such an underground band.

Recommended tracks: The Death of Simpson, Dance With Me!, …And Then There Was One
You may also like: Novena, Altesia, Maestrick (bandcamp), Flaming Row (bandcamp), Daydream XI (bandcamp)
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page

Label: Independent

Nospūn is:
– Phillip Rich (vocals)
– James Nelson (guitars)
– Cole Millward (bass)
– Paul Wood (drums)
– David Frick (keyboards)