Fresh from romancing the stage Napoleon give us their debut album after five years of vigorous touring. Thundering loudly through the waning zeitgeist of pretentious and angst driven UK hardcore, this over saturated blend of soundbites came from the School of Malmsteen. Napoleon seem to have an arpeggiator instead of a human guitarist.
Newborn Mind holds the meconium or riffs that conveniently go together by way of snappy bridges of the UK-based quartet. Left over in a composite of postnatal vurps (vomit + burps) and cries, after all it’s musical positioning. Hardcore may be a strong current and Napoleon are doing it well but their flighty spirit seems out of character for such an emotional genre. The gravitas of these monotonous structures never allow even a moment of engagement.
At times beautiful and always vibrant, the irony of technical brilliance is lost to Napoleon who batter riffs like they’re a Scottish chip shop, and with an extra assault on jazz-punk. While technically fluent the instruments are not very conversational. The bantz is about talking together regardless of accent but instead they flirt relentlessly and without ever taking the leap into uncertainty to consummate a meaningful relationship in the language of music. There are no songs on Newborn Mind.
7/10
