Apocrypha - The Eyes of Time. 1988 USA-Nevada

As the years go by, it becomes clearer that the heyday of metal was in the late 80s and early 90s, before the genre was taken over by groove, nu, rap, death, and everything else that I don't really enjoy much. 1988 in particular was a blow out year, one that I missed real time (for the most part) as I had just started working and was putting my paycheck to rare Euro prog items (a most fortuitous move). So while I made the right decision for certain, I did miss out on some great metal. But with a little hustle, these albums can be attained for a reasonable amount even today.

Apocrypha is one of those bands. Perhaps not the most radical or interesting, but certainly a good mid level entry into what is now known as US Power Metal. There are elements of thrash and progressive rock here - even a little shred - but it's a very interesting album without much conformity. I had dashed off a review of their debut in a roundup back in May, but eventually I'll flesh that out a bit more in the future. With involved tracks like 'Twilight of Modern Man', 'Alexander the King', 'H.G. Wells', and 'Mystic', I think it's safe to say Apocrypha had more on their minds than girls, rockin', pills, and booze. The production is a bit off on this one, and it takes a bit for the ears to adjust. I wasn't completely enamored at first, but it grew on me, just as many other albums of its ilk have. Whether this falls into the "too much of the same thing" category remains to be seen. Not even sure the genre will allow for that.

Ownership: LP: 1988 Shrapnel. Single sleeve. Picked up from my local seller friend, and at his usual cut rate price.

9/6/22 (new entry)

Chase - Chase + Ennea. 1971-72 USA-Nevada

Bill Chase was like many horn players in the late 60s and early 70s, and jumped on the Brass Rock movement. Perhaps just a couple of years too late, no matter, as the band managed to score a few hits before becoming irrelevant like most of the movement. And then, in 1974, Bill and some others in the band died tragically in a plane crash. Were the band to have a future like Tower of Power, we'll never know.

Chase's lineup is a bit unusual for horn rock though. Instead of featuring a trumpet, trombone, and sax/flute member, Chase just took the trumpet section with him. Chairs 1 through 4 in fact. And he combined that with guitar, bass, organ, drums, and a lead vocalist for a whopping Nonet. So the overall sound is very piercing, something akin to Maynard Ferguson times 4. Chase himself was no youngster on the rise, he was already a 37 year old veteran of the jazz circuit, playing the Las Vegas show scene. 

This double LP set features their first two albums in full, and both are similar in construct. One side contains some ripping hard rock meets horn rock numbers whereas the flip has a side-longer (mostly) where progressive ambition creeps in. I enjoyed both albums immensely, being a horn rock fan already. These are albums that are long forgotten today, but its rediscovery awaits.

Ownership: LP: 198? Epic. Gatefold. 2xLP. Chase albums are, as a good friend of the UMR would state, "as common as spit". I heard one of these albums as early as high school, but it wasn't for me at the time. I never did pursue again, and wasn't ever encouraged to do so. So the timing was perfect for this 2 album set to show up in the 25 cent bin. The repressing itself is very odd. Originals were commodities even in the early 80s, and there was never a "brass rock revival", especially during the New Wave years! As superfluous as any pressing ever done, these reissues hit the dollar bin the minute they were released, or so it would seem!

new entry