Review Summary: The last great prog metal album
Much has been written about Epigone since its release. A hit with progheads, it topped many of their “albums of the year” lists. Considered a masterclass of the genre and an exciting major label debut for the band, its praises also resulted in backlash from those who’d grown weary of its overblown epic style. An imitation of those who’d come before, to say that this is well-trodden ground would be an understatement. The ground has become so well-trodden that it’s essentially a fully-paved trail that discourages any deviation. Its tropes have become so codified that it’s hard to write prog metal that doesn’t sound like a parody of prog metal.
What if I told you that this weariness is expressed in the music itself? In sharp contrast to the whimsy and adventure of Veil of Imagination, Wilderun’s independent breakout success, Epigone has a sense of despondency. Instead of excitement, there is trepidation. The orchestration, rather than adding color, adds shades of grey. It obfuscates, it cascades, it induces dread more than it does wonder. There's almost always a hint of menace to the music.
Along with the sense of trepidation, there’s also a mean-spirited streak. Despite having many moments of beauty, the album ends on an exceptionally sour note.
Distraction Nulla is dissonant, cacophonous and spiteful. Like painting a gorgeous landscape and smearing it in frustration because it’ll never be good enough. There’s thousands of others that can do this, it’s not a special talent. Everything’s been done before and it’s been done better.
The fact that Wilderun is following in the footsteps of Opeth, Devin Townsend and the myriad cheesy Napalmcore folk metal bands is not lost on them. The title of the album, “Epigone”, literally means a less accomplished imitator of an earlier artist. This theme is impossible to ignore, especially since the lyrics in songs like
Woolgatherer and
Identifier express the frustration of being late to the party. From the former song:
Free the eyes of the reverence within, that well has dried
Nothing I imagine can compare, I'll be a passerby
Do they ever see the final world that they create?
Or is it the very nature of its heart to arrive one moment too late?
The members of Wilderun are accomplished musicians. This is top-tier prog metal, none of this is phoned-in. The sophistication of the songwriting easily outmatches most of their contemporaries, and yet… it’s still prog metal. We’re thirty years removed from Dream Theater and a quarter century removed from Wilderun’s biggest stylistic influence, Opeth. Let’s be real, nobody’s outdoing Still Life or Blackwater Park.
It’s this feeling of creative frustration and lack of identity that makes Epigone resonate. Why I feel that, despite it being a major label debut, it signifies the end of something more than the beginning. The bonus cover of
Everything in its Right Place is thematically important, as the original signified a radical change in sound for Radiohead borne of creative frustration. Like Wilderun, they were also considered critical darlings of their scene. But unlike Radiohead, whose pioneering work inspired countless imitators, Wilderun is one of those imitators. They know it.
But despite all of this, I don’t consider Epigone a negative experience. Despite the futility of engaging in a style of music that’s past its prime, where legacy acts and the old-school revivals who imitate them dominate the scene, there’s still value in creation. Even Opeth have decided they’d rather imitate 70s prog bands than try to recapture their own success. As previously stated, nobody’s outdoing Still Life or Blackwater Park. This self-awareness of one’s own diminishing place in the musical timeline, yet the drive to create such elaborate music regardless is what makes it so special.
It’s impossible to anticipate the future, but for a while now heavy metal has been looking back in time. The biggest metal act of the past decade is Ghost, itself a throwback to the days of Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Death metal is dominated by retro bands reliving past glory, every post-DragonForce power metal band makes sure to wink to the audience. Even nu metal, itself a controversial upheaval of rock music, is experiencing a revival. And what of prog metal? I’m afraid Epigone might be the last great prog metal album, though it’d be even more of a tragedy if nobody tried to prove me wrong.
