Listen to this while you read!
Groovy ambient progressive death post-metal.
That’s about the most accurate way I thought of to categorize Exist.
The EP, which is just a few minutes under the 30 minute mark, starts with the impressive “Writhe”. The clean guitar here is just a hint of what’s to come later in this song, and on the rest of the album. But sooner than later, the death metal part of this unique blend soon comes to the surface, with harsh vocals, blast beats, and heavy riffs.
There is a very cool atmosphere created with the help of guitars, later in the song, and the lyrics are profound, spiritual, which gives a deeper meaning to the song, and album generally, than mere entertainment. It’s there to make you grow personally, kind of like Cynic’s albums…?
Then there’s the “ambient” part. It’s like being in the eye of a tornado, or a hurricane… First there are the winds, the violence, and you think the world’s gonna end, then there’s the calm. But it’s not a peaceful calm. It’s rather full of tension, apprehension, and in some way it feels heavy, as if the sky was about to crash on you. That is Writhe, the almost perfect song!
The epic “In Mirrors”, separated into three parts, runs almost 20 minutes, but there’s not a lot of death metal in there. It’s mostly proggy moods, ambient passages, and solos. Of course, there is tension, there is heaviness, and this song is great, just not as great as the first one.
What strikes me the most on this album is the bass. While I cannot say he is über technical, like in Origin, or Spiral Architect, I can certainly say that he is fucking good. The guy’s got a great tone, and brilliant ideas as a bass player. He sure takes a lot of place on the album, and is a big part of Exist’s sound.
The guitars are really good, too, but there is some times where it feels like a jam. While not being a bad thing, it just doesn’t seem to “fit” perfectly with the rest of the CD’s quality and overall sound.
Exist’s In Mirrors EP will certainly take you into quite a journey, it’s an album I’m glad to have discovered, and I am really looking forward to new stuff from them!
In Mirrors EP easily gets 80/100, and that’s because they could have done so much more with the formula in place that I feel I cannot give a higher rating, but it certainly an album you should get ASAP.
-D
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