Absolute excellence we can discover in this reissue as the music of this San Diego based band can be described only with one word “heavenly”.
ESPIONAGE was started back in late 1986 following the breakup of the band DIAMOND LACE by Steve Brase (guitar, later guitar & vocals) and Mike Dietz (bass). During those early days the band was focused on melodic Heavy Metal / Hair Metal sound, something that can be heard in their first -and unreleased until today- 1987 recordings.
By 1989 the band had evolved their sound, delivering a remarkable combination of Classic Heavy Metal and Progressive Metal with some Power Metal touches here and there.
Classic Heavy Metal was always a basic and remarkable starting point for bands that were developing a sound finally based into a melodic complexity, forming the core of the US Prog / Power underground. Bands like SCREAMER (Wisconsin) or LATENT FURY are good examples, and I can pretty much point that ESPIONAGE were following a similar formula combining the straight Heavy Metal vibes of the classic sound with Progressive / Power arrangements.
The band’s “Heed the Warning” demo showcased all the above and much more. Needless to say that only 100 copies have been produced back in 1989 making this item a mega rarity through the years. But all in all is the music that matters. Yes you can of course hear the songs of this demo in this reissue.
Yes a reissue, cause the Arkeyn Steel Records team, have managed to track down the bassist and founding member Mike Dietz who was very excited to work on an ESPIONAGE reissue project, revealing lots of unreleased material: “The Ground Zero” unreleased pre-production demo from 1990 and the already mentioned, unreleased demo tracks from 1987. The complete set of the band’s unreleased studio recordings plus their “Heed the Warning” demo from 1989, have been gathered together and made available for the first time on CD.
Everything has been remastered from Scratch by Kostas Scandalis at Infinity Studio (Thessaloniki, Greece). Artwork has been rearranged by Kostas Athanasoglou and the booklet contains lyrics, photos plus in depth liner notes by Mike Dietz himself.
So are you ready for some San Diego Prog Metal mastery? I hope so. ESPIONAGE was a very special band, their music stands upon the top slots of the US Progressive Metal underground. Their huge talent is highlighted by the great musicianship on each and every of their recordings, that are now available for a brave discovery through this reissue. This is high class inspired Metal for the deep thinking and the emotional ones, do not miss the chance to experience it.
Out March 28th on Arkeyn Steel Records. Pre order here.
