Neopoliten - Jerovine
Despite not being as densely layered or immaculately absorbing as Shapeshifter Assembly, Jerovine is a promising step in the right direction for Neopoliten. Blending the domains of noise rock and free-style jazz, the album greatly teases what’s lined up in the young artist’s ambitious career.
Nalpure is a solid opener, despite sounding overly amateurish and sporatically sloppy. Thankfully, its follow up Vesayle is a much more refined experience. Zestapond is borderline cubist with its nonchalant percussive structure and vibrant, eclectic wind instrumentation. Jerovine, the title track, is the masterful peak of the album; stylishly placed last in the track listing. As it stands on its own, it is far more impressive than the preceeding suites due to its focused percussion, thoughtful composition and impressive finale. In contrast, not much can be said about the preceeding tracks Kazerain and Nepirse, as they sound far too sloppy to take seriously.
While production-wise it may sound astonishing, overall Jerovine suffers from a poor execution. The ideas are fantastic, and the resulting blend is craftly complex, but the apparent lack of skill drastically drags the album down. As a rock album, it fails to keep a consistent pace, and as a jazz album it doesn’t feel sharp enough. Though Neopoliten rocks a world outside the domain of these two styles that is simply incomparable to other suites that share the field, and thus it’s deserving attention for that feat alone. Overall, the album is a messy, yet enjoyable listen.
Above Average
Listen to it here:
Neopoliten – Jerovine
