ESPIONAGE is a Progressive Power Metal band from San Diego, California. This is a reissue of their 1989 Demo entitled ‘’Heed the Warning’’ . It has many several bonus tracks that were left off from the initial release, pretty much compiling anything remotely related to the recording of their only material. They are quite the obscure band, whom I have never ever heard about until today. By the way, they are not to be confused by the Australian Heavy/Speed Power Metal band of the same name!

What to expect from some band you never heard of? Well that’s a great question, you obviously have to have an open mind and ears especially for anything that was not mainstream back in the back. What I got was a pleasant surprise of a band that could have gotten really bigger in the right circumstances. I guess they arrived at the wrong time or didn’t have the proper backing to make it bigger than they probably should have.

The first two influences at hand and very apparent are bands like QUEENSRYCHE as well as John Arch fronted FATES WARNING. This is definitely the two bands that come to mind right away when hearing their material. You have the intricacies of FATES WARNING with the range of a Geoff Tate-esque vocal prowess. They could have been openers from them back in the day and it would have elicited some great crowd reaction for sure. You have the progressive metal structure yet you have Steve Brase delivering one hell of a performance on this album. He has that range you want to have as a front man and his voice matches well with the complicated yet spectacular arrangements of the music.

It does have some very Thrash Metal elements thrown in for good measure and it does set them apart from the bands I mentioned beforehand obviously. It’s a nice hodge-podge of the styles yet it can be quite aggressive. It didn’t really follow the structure of the genre and wanted to stand out on their own with their sound. It’s a crying shame that it didn’t get popular because it’s a throwback to the United States Progressive Power Scene back in the day. You cannot compare them to a band like DREAM THEATER, that wouldn’t make any sense but they could have been a reckoning force in the scene back in the late eighties.

ESPIONAGE is by far a great hidden gem, tucked away in the corner and displayed to the masses several decades later, brandishing some amazing vocals with the sharp contrast of Thrash Metal mixed with early 80’s Prog Metal goodness, finding it’s mark nonetheless and making it known that some diamond are still in the rough.