Style: progressive metal, djent (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, older Leprous, Tesseract, Devin Townsend
Country: North Carolina, USA
Release date: 28 March 2025
Dear reader, you’re about to become privy to some Subway lore. In 2023, our glorious founder Sam reviewed the debut full-length from a young North Carolinian band called Nospūn. That review is our single most viewed post ever and almost certainly bears the most comments of any of our reviews, too. And no wonder—Opus took the progressive metal underground by storm. While Sam’s somewhat reserved 7/10 score caused some grumbling and was clearly at odds with the wider community, Opus ultimately took fifth place in our official top ten of 2023. Nevertheless, the release was spoken of in such messianic tones within the broader prog community that you’d think Opus was the first music ever released. In fact, that became the meme here. We at The Subway colloquially refer to Nospūn as the first band ever, a sort of Big Bang event for music, and Opus as the first ever album. So imagine our surprise, then, to hear that there was something that preceded the musical Big Bang.
Ozai, in Jurassic Park fashion, brings to life something extinct. Before Nospūn were Nospūn, they were Ozai and, having improved significantly since then, Nospūn decided to rerecord their original material with their current know-how and talent. The result is a weird mix of old and new: Ozai is music originally composed and released back in 2014 but rerecorded post-Opus, meaning that Nospūn’s second release came first but shows both improvement and regression since their debut. Or, to put it another way, they’ve gone back, yet forward. Clear? No? Good.
Opus was rooted in a Dream Theater / Haken sound, and particularly recalled the first two Haken albums in style. With some harsh vocals, technical and djenty riffs, and a more rhythmic focus, Ozai bears more resemblance to later Haken albums (which, of course, it preceded), some early Leprous, Tesseract, and a lot of those accessible, poppy djent bands whose names I always forget. Ozai is, in a word, edgier. Take opener “Life, the Universe, and Everything” for example. When the first riff kicks in it’s a polyrhythmic djenter, and when vocalist Philip Rich starts singing, the verse riff beneath him is straight out of the Tesseract playbook. Harsh vocals are a significant component, employed over sections more redolent of the progressive metalcore of Textures; it’s an unexpected addition but one that broadly works, even while making Ozai somewhat of apiece with most accessible, djenty prog metal bands of the era.
This kleptomaniac grab-bag of influences never feels totally derivative—Nospūn own their homages—but it also lacks the solidity of their style on Opus. The sneering spoken word on “The Effervescent Power” is straight Between the Buried and Me. A few of the more dramatic vocal flourishes are very much reaching for Einar Solberg’s unhinged highs on early Leprous albums, and “Mecca” balances some old Leprous tropes while displaying a pop djent swagger. Meanwhile, the major key riffing of “Out With a Bang” feels more reminiscent of prog post-hardcore groups of the time, such as The Safety Fire or Corelia. Across Ozai, Nospūn try on a few different identities, and while that core Nospūn sound does lay over everything, that’s obviously going to mostly be an artefact of the rerecording; you could say they’re laser-focused with no target. The choruses, in particular, feel closest to the Opus style, especially the ‘with the force of a supernova’ refrain from “The Effervescent Power”. Additionally, the utilisation of synthetic strings and choir as well as organ, makes closer “Jormungand” the most Opus-esque of the tracks, even when its riffs are entering heavier territory.
Ever counterintuitive, Ozai also presents developments in Nospūn’s sound. Rich’s inimitable vocal delivery is the driving force of the tracks, and he’s belting it out like never before, that Solbergian rasp really cementing him as one of the underground vocalists to watch. His harshes, too, are a new (old) feature, and he delivers them capably—perhaps not the most accomplished harsh vocalist, but strong for someone best known for a release more rooted in trad prog influences. The gloss for all this is Cole Millward’s production, which has also come on well since Opus. Ozai has a real sense of attack, Rich’s vocals are given the central focus they demand, and the overall sound is wonderfully crisp.
Before music there was Opus and before Opus there was Ozai and after Opus there was Ozai again and… ok, I’ll just stop doing this bit now. The world’s first band were unquestionably talented from the outset, demonstrating a judicious restraint that Opus would have done well to retain a little of, while being, somewhat unsurprisingly, a more derivative work that wears its influences on its sleeve. The question isn’t what will Nospūn’s next album sound like but when will it come from? After all, anything is within the realm of possibility.
Recommended tracks: Life, the Universe, and Everything; Out With a Bang, Jormungand
You may also like: Ions, Speaking to Stones, Ebonivory
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Nospūn is:
– Philip Rich (vocals)
– James Nelson (guitars)
– Cole Millward (bass)
– Paul Wood (drums)
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