Exhale Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

EXHALE: “WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE”

Nov 292013

(Here’s DGR’s review of the new album by Sweden’s Exhale.)

When Exhale released the music video for “Wrath Unleashed” the band managed to worm their way inside my skull like no other managed to this year. Based on one furious, grinding, explosive blast of metal I found myself looking forward to Exhale’s release of When Worlds Collide… and then waiting… and waiting.

For being a minute and twenty seconds long, “Wrath Unleashed” has a way of grabbing you with its bony fingers and gripping your arm like a claw, then never letting go. Keep in mind, the video for “Wrath Unleashed” was uploaded to YouTube in late December of last year, so Worlds Collide has had a long time to simmer and get us hyped up about its forthcoming release. It’s rare that a band is able to hook someone like that on the strength of one song, so when Exhale managed to pull that off, I knew we would be in for something special.

Later releases of “Avsky” and “Machinery” would add fuel to that fire. Although initially difficult to find because it was on a sampler, “Avsky” promised more of that initial rush that was delivered via “Wrath Unleashed”, and it felt good. If the song could’ve been inserted into my veins then I’d probably still be riding that high. “Machinery” was the sort of song that hit like molten steel, sparks and everything ejected from it in every which direction. It was the sort of song (as I described it in my initial discussion following its release) that you put on in your car at full blast and then drive full speed into a wall. Continue reading »

A DGR ROUND-UP: THE AMENTA, DEATH I AM, AND EXHALE

Sep 142013

(DGR brings you a collection of goodies from The Amenta (Australia), Death I Am (Japan/US), and Exhale (Sweden).)

THE AMENTA – Soundtrack To A Hidden Earth

In my mind, The Amenta are one of the most interesting and challenging bands out there right now. They play an industrialized style of black metal and write songs that challenge even the most traditional metal listeners. They’re probably doing the most metal thing you can do by presenting music so unlikeable and abrasive in its sound that even though the music underneath is actually pretty approachable, it still causes people to shy away.

I thought their release earlier this year, Flesh Is Heir, was pretty good, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to check these guys out, this is not the article to do so with, go read that. However, I do find what the band posted earlier this week fascinating, and if you’re looking for stuff that definitely isn’t music and is mostly a collage of distorted sound that would go perfectly in a horror film then continue on – because the band is giving away a (formerly) rare five-song collection from their very early days of writing music known as Soundtrack To A Hidden Earth. The band explain on their Facebook page:

“Soundtrack to a Hidden Earth” was originally released on the initial pressing of “Occasus”, the debut album by The Amenta, released by Listenable Records in 2004. The tracks were hidden in the data encoded on the disc.

The recordings were experiments in sound destruction and contextualization of sounds. These experiments led directly to some of the methods used in the follow up album, “n0n”.

Few people have heard these tracks. Continue reading »

VIDEOSLAUGHTER FOR YOUR SATURDAY: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, OBLIVION, AND EXHALE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Dec 222012

I’ve been distracted for days and consequently have fallen behind in taking note of new music and videos. The catching up begins now. So does the sonic slaughtering, with three ear-grabbing and eye-catching new videos.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

This Italian band is one of our site’s true favorites, and their 2011 album Agony was a big hit around here, as it was just about anywhere else you might have looked in the world of metal last year. 2011 was a breakout year for FA. Extensive touring was one reason for the band’s sky-rocketing profile, but their fantastic official video for “The Violation” had a lot to do with that, too.

As of this morning, we now have a second official video for Agony. This time the song is “The Forsaken”. The video was again directed by Salvatore Perrone, and it’s another winner. It’s ingeniously conceived and beautifully filmed, and it captures the quasi-gothic, neo-classical drama of the song, which is one of Agony’s best. It’s right after the jump. Continue reading »

“I’LL HAVE MY BRAINS SCRAMBLED, WITH HASH BROWNS AND TOAST”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

May 282010

A few days ago, we started a post by saying, “Sometimes when we listen to metal, we just want to get mentally pulverized.” If you never feel that way, well, please go on about your business and come back tomorrow when we’ll probably be writing about something else.

But today, we’re in that mental-pulverization mood. And in case you’re also in the mood to have your brains scrambled, have we found the right short-order cooks for you: Aeon and Exhale. Coincidentally, both bands are from Sweden. They each employ different techniques on the grill, but their new albums both get the job done in masterful fashion.

AEON

With a few of the inevitable line-up changes, Aeon (pictured above) has been playing for more than a decade, and Path of Fire (released on Metal Blade) is their third full-length album and the first since 2007. The album was mixed by Erik Rutan and mastered by the ubiquitous Alan Douches.

The name of the game is technical death metal, and it’s as sweet as it is punishing. With few exceptions, the songs depend on low-end, driving riffs and hammering double-kicks that put us in mind of an inexorably charging train, scattering sparks and belching smoke. The picking is fast and dynamic, yet there’s no flash-for-the-sake-of-flash going on here — each song is built around a defined rhythmic structure designed to burrow heavy grooves into your skull. (more after the jump, including songs to stream . . .) Continue reading »