It’s time for a real classic! Yet some of you might have never heard the name OPPROBRIUM before. But I’m sure the name INCUBUS rings a bell, because that’s the moniker this band used to have before and under which the band became known. The band was founded in 1986 in New Orleans, Louisiana by the brothers Francis (vocals and guitar) and Moyses Howard (drums) with Scot Latour on bass. Their first demo “Supernatural Death” a year later already gained some attention, yet their extremely furious Thrash Metal only led to a record deal with the a tiny label called Brutal Records. Thanks to some license deals, the album got spread anyway and really came as a bombshell in the extreme Metal underground. “Serpent Temptation” stood in line with early SLAYER, SEPULTURA and DARK ANGEL back then and was not weaker than these acts. With a more professional label backing them up, INCUBUS would have become a big thing. All the songs on the A-side, like the opener ‘The Battle Of Armageddon’, the ultra brutal and rabidly fast ‘Voices From The Grave’, ‘Sadistic Sinner’ or the frenzy band anthem ‘Incubus’ still make heads rotate in ultra speed. And the four tracks on the B-side were not B-stock, especially the title track ‘Serpent Temptation’ and the closing Thrash attack ‘Underground Killers’ still kick serious asses. With such a smasher at the back, it is a real wonder that INCUBUS haven’t become something big. Yet, life was not that good to the Howard brothers, now without Mr. Latour. Their second album “Beyond The Unknown” was released by Nuclear Blast in 1990, and it was not only more in the Death / Thrash direction than “Serpent Temptation”, but it was even a little better in my ears. But despite this again strong album, INCUBUS were swept away by the running Death Metal wave. Line-up problems did one last thing and the unlucky fellows INCUBUS nearly got forgotten. It took the brothers a whole decade to record new stuff and due to legal concerns, they changed their name to OPPROBRIUM to release “Discerning Forces” in 2000 and “Mandatory Evac” eight years later. But the underground fame of especially “Serpent Temptation” was unabated. This album already experienced a very doubtful re-release in 1996. A new cover often ain’t a problem, but for this release, the song titles were changed, the lyrics re-written and in addition, the vocals and bass was re-recorded as well, changing the original album pretty much. The recent reissue is of a different quality, since the original recordings were carefully re-mastered and the album is even decorated with the original artwork. In addition, the four songs of the “Supernatural Death” demo recordings were used as a bonus, which means we have the original and even more unpolished versions of four album tracks on the disc as well. There’s just one thing that I need to criticise here: the re-release will be available under the moniker OPPROBRIUM, despite the fact that the band was named INCUBUS back then. In my eyes, that is very distracting and it even kills the magic of the original a little bit (I totally agree! A sticker mentioning the "new" name OPPROBRIUM would’ve been the better solution here for sure – Frank). But maybe this is counting beans. Nevertheless “Serpent Temptation” should be a must for all those who dig 1980s Thrash Metal and like their Thrash like me: the rawer, the better. So go ahead and check this reissue: www.relapse.com, or visit the band at: www.facebook.com/opprobriumofficial

Back in the day, getting something a few years later was still considered recent… The fellow group of Metal heads where I was living, received this album along SEPULTURA’s “Morbid Visions” at the same time. And the popular opinion back then was that INCUBUS won every time. Yeah, you read right, INCUBUS. The fact that they lost the name to that other band is just incredible, but oh, well. And yes, we considered this album to be a bit better than the other band but it was the other one that became more well known and in fact they had already released a second album by the time. The power trio conformed by Brazilian brothers Moyses and bassist / vocalist Scott W. Latour, was actually formed in Louisiana, and made some waves with their demo, until releasing this album. The original version, released on vinyl by Brutal Records which I still own to this day, was simply devastating. Although the music was more in the extreme Thrash Metal vein, there is no denying that some riffs, and the demonic vocals besides some lyrics, were more in the line of what Death is all about. Now, about the lyrics… yes, they have many references to the Bible and Christianity, so that was a little bit weird at the time. Now if one takes a look at the cover, things also tend to make sense. So, the band was never actually considered a Christian band, yet the rumour was there. Now, to the music, it’s safe to say that SLAYER was their biggest influence, alongside VENOM and early METALLICA. I was also able to sense Hardcore bits here and there, besides being of the first bands to use blast beats in music that was not Grindcore. The vocals were more along the line of early Mille and Becerra, but with an approach more akin to Araya. And although speed was the name of the game, there is plenty of melody, and many catchy choruses and riffs. The guitar performance, while not out of the world, was very good, and the drumming and bass playing were spot on. And for an independent release (or at least on a very small label), the production values were very good, better than some other bands that were signed at the time. So, the thing is that a second album was expected with anxiety… yet, that actually came true, now with a bigger label, but in the process, they lost their vocalist. And believe it or not, some music becomes transcendental because all of the parts involved, and the vocals of Scott were a part of it. Now, this is a timeless masterpiece that I suggest any respectable Metal head needs in their collection, no matter what the band name says, as long as it’s this version, which is available again by those fine people at High Roller Records. And yes, there is another version of this album. But that’s another story… www.facebook.com/opprobriumofficial, www.facebook.com/hrrecords