- Your shopping cart is empty!
EPITAPH - Crawling Out Of The Crypt 2LP
How fitting can an album title be? Epitaph from Verona, Italy, are back
from the dead! And more than that: Almost 30 years after the birth of
Epitaph they finally release their very first full-length album via High
Roller Records. For those not familiar with Epitaph: In the eighties
and nineties, Italy spawned a big black mass of great doomy bands, as
the underground flourished with illustrous names like Death SS, Black
Hole, Sacrilege, Zess, Malombra, Cultus Sanguine, Abysmal Grief...
Epitaph were part of this glorious “Spaghetti Doom” movement, having
close bonds with other legendary acts, namely Black Hole and Sacrilege.
Singer Emiliano can tell more about the ‘connections between the three
cult acts: “Nicola and Mauro were just young kids during Black Hole’s
heyday. Nevertheless, they used to contribute a lot to the band, and
then quickly grew fed up with it when it became apparent that Black Hole
was turning into main man Morbioli’s solo project, its sound getting
even more keyboards-centred (admittedly, keys were an important part of
the Black Hole recipe). Then Sacrilege spawned the lurid seeds of what
was to become Epitaph. Nicola wrote the song ‘Necronomicon’ – that song
still has its rightful place in our repertoire, since it’s such a big
fun to perform – during the last days of Sacrilege. Thinking about it,
the track must be one of the very first examples of Lovecraft inspired
metal…!” To give a better insight into the history of the band, Emiliano
sums up in short the line up changes in Epitaph before the reunion:
“Early Epitaph’s line-up was quite different from what it looks like
today: Nicola (a.k.a. ‘Nicholas Murray’ of Black Hole) was still in the
band, and Andrea Picchi (who was to form All Souls’ Day, a doom act that
featured Emiliano, Epitaph’s current frontman, for a time) was in too,
along with Giampy Tomezzoli. For the second demo two more members were
part of the band: Fabio Fiocco and ‘Mackley’ Dal Fra’; this line up
stayed stable until the split up. When the time came to reunite,
Tomezzoli was briefly part of Epitaph again. He’s still a very good
friend of ours and a genuine supporter!”
Even though they managed to
release three demos which by now have gained cult status among the
connoisseurs of Italian doom, Epitaph decided to call it quits before
they could build on what they had achieved: “When the third and last
demo was released (around 1994) the decision was already made: Epitaph
was over. After so many years of struggling on the road, the band had
basically worn itself out. Some members wished to try very different
routes, while the remaining members had invested so much of their own
lives in the band that this blow proved fatal. Nevertheless, the ghostly
memory of Epitaph kept nudging back, relentlessly!” No small wonder
then that under these circumstances, it took the band almost thirty
years to release their first proper album. What makes the whole thing
even more interesting: Even though Italian Doom nowadays is praised up
and down the wider metal scene, back in the days being part of the
“underground” did not serve well as a sales argument, as Emiliano
explains: “We ought to say: the stars were NOT right! And this is quite
true, after a fashion. During Epitaph’s pristine years, it was really
hard for an Italian band to get any recognition. The sub-genre itself
was almost despised and ridiculed in our own country, back then: Most
people considered us just a bunch of creepy weirdos! Even Black Hole’s
legacy didn’t help it. More recently, after a promising re-start, we
suffered a stroke of bad luck, or two. Still, it must be said that –
ultimately – we were our own worst enemies: for a stretch of time we
couldn’t help but feel unready for a full comeback. Then – all of a
sudden – we understood we would never be like, say, Queensryche. We’re
not that kind of band, simply put, and we’re more than fine with that!”
After having come to that conclusion, time was more than ripe for a
return of the former cult outfit who had never really buried the spirit
of doom, despite all obstacles: “Just like the rest of the erstwhile
members, Mauro (a.k.a. Luther Gordon in the Black Hole’s line-up) never
really quit making music. He’s the only member featuring in all previous
incarnations of the band, and a few years back it occurred to him that
Epitaph was his One True Project, as far as music is concerned, and that
it deserved one more chance. Actually, the band made timid attempts at
relaunching itself even before 2012. Funnily enough, just a few years
ago we were completely oblivious of the interest bands like Epitaph do
stir nowadays. We felt outdated, a little unconfident perhaps, yet
utterly passion-driven! Jaded? NEVER!”
On their facebook page Epitaph
stated that things were falling into place when the band finally met
their new guitarist, Lorenzo Loatelli in 2012. One year passed, and in
November 2013 “Crawling out of the Crypt” was recorded at the trusty
Opal Arts Studios. Since a first master did not prove satisfactory, the
band turned to Patrick W. Engel of Temple of Disharmony (“the Sound
Savant himself”, as Emiliano puts it) who is renowned for his great
quality work for a long row of High Roller-Releases. Now what can old
and new fans expect from the album? Emiliano: “We chose to use old (yet
revamped) material, mostly. We’ve been writing a lot of new tunes of
late: after a while, some are still to our likings, graced by a great
old school feel that makes them on par with the old stuff, while some
already went down the drain! So, for this first release, we went for
those songs we feel had passed the Test of Time.”
Besides presenting
old material in a sparkling new outfit, “Crawling out of the Crypt”
contains some special features Emiliano is quite proud of: “We had the
chance to enlist the venerable Gianni Nepi - the voice of mighty Dark
Quarterer – as a guest in one of our favourite tracks of the album. The
end result is truly grandiose!”
Since the signing with High Roller
Records, Epitaph find themselves in the best company: “In April 2014,
the world was collapsing around Epitaph: We could no longer get the
album issued, so our journey was abruptly halted. At once, we thought
that incident would be just a negligible setback! Epitaph set off in
search of a new label. We already had heard of High Roller Record’s
remarkable reputation, so… why not?!? After all, the guys in High Roller
had published Black Hole’s long lost demo material. At least, Epitaph
should pique their curiosity – we thought – and so here we are!”
It
seems as if Epitaph took the right decision to release their first album
just now – sometimes it pays off when things take a while, as we live
in favourable times for all things Doom. Emiliano is quite aware of
this: “As far as we know, doom seems now stronger than ever before! In
contrast to the old pioneers, the new bands easily master all the
tricks! Usually, this is good: We get a lot of quality albums from so
many great bands. Sometimes – though – this makes the albums of today
feel a little less spontaneous than those first awkward blunders into
uncharted lands… Italy gets its own solid share of talented bands, no
doubt. We hope that in the decades to come, this current of Spaghetti
Doom movement is to retain its characteristic traits. In a country
scarcely rooted in rock, the doom scene might stand out as a
distinguishable tradition, just like those hallowed Italian prog-rock
bands from the seventies!”
Ulrike Schmitz
Tracks #A2 and #A3 are a re-recording from their "Sacred And Profane" 1992 demo on cassette.
Track #C2 is a re-recording from their "The Lord Of Evil" 1990 demo on cassette.
Tracks #B1 and #D1 are re-recording from their "Mental Walls" 1994 demo on cassette.
Track #D2 is a re-recording from their first band Black Hole, listenable in the 1985 demo.
Released October 28, 2014 as 2LP in gatefold sleeve.