ALBUM REVIEW: April 16th - Epitaph

Sometimes you get to look back over your shoulder to years gone by when you review albums. Often that’s when a band hones in on a particular style but occasionally it comes when bands unearth old recordings that in retrospect should have taken them so much further. I must admit I had never heard of APRIL 16TH till this one dropped.

APRIL 16TH were around from 1985 to 1991 and had a line-up of Chris Harris (guitar), Lawrence Mills (guitar), Dave Russell (vocals), Eric Puffet (bass) and John Fisher (drums). Their only releases were a demo ‘Cherry Jam’ and an album ‘Sleepwalker ‘ released in 1989. Sadly at the time both passed me by. By 1991 teh band had parted ways. Being an unsigned band in those pre-internet days was a lot harder than it is these days to get heard.

So before you go out searching for those releases ‘Epitaph’ gathers together both without remastering. So this is essentially what we would have heard back then albeit without the tape hiss of that first demo.

What you get is a real taste of early 80’s Hard Rock with a hint of Blues in the guitars and whist the production isn’t as stellar as your major label contenders the songs are strong and particularly varied. If you like the Bluesy opener ‘She’s Mean’ then you really will enjoy seeing this one out. There’s plenty to love and no real duds, but it’s tracks like ‘Thursday’s Child’, ‘Sleepwalking’ and the longer outings like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Clapham Wood’ that reakky make you wonder “What if?”

EPITAPHwas released in 2021 and it’s a worth addition to your collection.