Review by Adam M on January 24, 2017.

Obscure Sphynx performs a fairly interesting take on post metal.  Their music has a lot of ebbs and flows as it naturally progresses through the tracks.  There are of course massive dynamic shifts associated with each song and its progress. 

The music here is comparable to Cult of Luna, for example, but takes a longer time to unfold.  There are a number of twists and turns that appear to be more pointless, but contribute to the songs structures here.  This leads to songs that are epic in length, but could be more interesting with the use of a more catchy approach that Cult of Luna applies.  There are still a number of great ideas at play on the album and they are the type of small details that need to be uncovered with repeated listens.  This is indeed a fairly difficult listen and the interesting parts need to be dragged out of the music through repetition.  This does have a large amount of replay value because of these traits and there are a great number of things going for the band.  The problem is that Cult of Luna introduced new ideas into the mix and this time around after Neurosis took the lead, it seems like there isn’t enough new to make for another stellar entry to the genre.  There is still enough to make for a quality album however.  These riffs have a larger than life nature that simply makes the post genre one of the most high quality ones around. 

One might wish for a more immediate payoff with the band, but this is certainly the type of album that takes at least a few spins to get into.  Once you’re into it, Epitaphs makes for a very rewarding listening experience.  People with patience with enjoy this album by Obscure Sphynx greatly despite my criticisms.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10