The other day, I received a small package from the UK. It was from Chris Harris, ex-guitarist of the band APRIL 16TH. What a pleasant surprise! Chris sent me their CD EPITAPH (2021) and asked me to review it in my NWOBHM section, which I am very happy do do. So, here we go.
APRIL 16TH was active between 1985 and 1991 and had a stable line-up in those years: Founder members Chris Harris and Lawrence Mills played guitar, Dave Russell (the man with great hair) provided his vocals, John Fisher played drums and Eric Puffet played bass.
APRIL 16TH released a demo cassette called Cherry Jam and their only studio album Sleepwalker in 1989. The heavy metal of the NWOBHM had its heyday between 1975 and the early 80s. Being founded in 1985 APRIL 16TH came to the scene just a bit too late to achieve major success. The band was most active in 1985 and 1986, playing the British club scene. 1987 - 1991 saw less and less gigs and in 1991 the band eventually disbanded for financial reasons.
I asked Chris Harris about this and he said:
"We wanted to succeed and therefore had to compete with signed bands who were supported by wealthy record labels. To compete we had to spend large amounts of money on big PA Sound systems and elaborate light shows. Further ongoing costs were required to maintain regular press promotions that were vital if we were to succeed. In the end we had 2 options. The first option would be to scale the whole operation down and to play smaller venues with smaller audiences using inadequate PA's / light systems. The second option was to close the band down. So I left APRIL 16TH and then Lawrence also left . It was a very sad day for me."
EPITAPH was released in 2021 and contains all available studio tracks from APRIL 16TH, previously released on Cherry Jam and Sleepwalker. It is not intended to be a compilation but more of a completed version of their work.
Harris says:
"Lawrence came up with the idea back in 1999. He chose the track running order and ran off a few home use CDR's complete with cover artwork. Whilst these copies were only of mp3 sound quality - listening to and seeing such a prototype was enough incentive to ensure that a professionally produced EPITAPH would (at some point in the future) - be made available.
It turned out that this point in the future was 2021. It was then that we decided to proceed with a professional batch run of studio quality EPITAPH CD's. I knew Lawrence would be agreeable as it was his baby in the first place. John loves everything
about APRIL 16TH and would offer no objections. Dave is very meticulous about official releases and so I asked him to approve the final product before release and he agreed. And so with everyone in agreement I took our original 1986/7 master tapes to a top quality studio to check for any degrading issues that may have (over the years) - occurred. We could now
proceed with producing a proof copy of the CD for Dave to approve and then run off a first batch of 500 CD's. It's important to note that the original tapes have not been re-mastered and therefore the CD is an exact record of the sound of the band playing live in the studio."
Chris Harris took the time to answer all my questions regarding the band and the release and any future projects in length and I can absolutely feel his passion and love for the band even after so many years have gone by. He is spending his time trying to promote EPITAPH. Vocalist Dave Russell has just finished writing a book about the band and the band is also working on creating new material. This project is a matter of the heart for each and every single one of the remaining band members.
Harris:
"I'm also involved in writing new music for the band as we are hoping to record some new material next year. We will be trying to construct new songs with each of us recording our individual section from our own homes with one of us acting as coordinator for the final mixing and mastering processes. Please note that Dave Russell and Lawrence Mills are the bands main song writers - the songs I'm working are just ideas that may help them do their magic."
Let's look into the music!
EPITAPH features 14 songs and runs for 68 minutes. Song lengths range between short and sweet 3-minute tracks up to the 7:46 minute track Clapham Wood, which happens to be my absolute favourite on this album. A slow and perfect guitar intro leads to Dave's crooning voice. The other instruments don't set in before 1:24. And when they do, you have a perfectly crafted hard rock ballad with a nice tempo change in the middle.
For me, listening to EPITAPH felt like listening to really authentic 1980 hard rock. The album takes some spins, but it really grows on you. Each song offers something special. Lawrence Mills provides superb guitar solos throughout the album. Listening to the guitar work is really rewarding, great bluesy riffs and a lot of groove are to be found everywhere. Apart from Clapham Wood my favourite songs are: Illusion (with the most perfect lead guitar intro), She's Mean and Thursday's Child which are both very bluesy and feature great leads and riffs that will stay in your head for a while.
Only thing left to say is "Thank you, Chris" for sending me a copy of your album, it is highly appreciated and I will find a special place for it in my collection of all things metal.
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