Autor: 100 Uživatelé: 92 Tvé hodnocení: hodnoť
Exivious

EXIVIOUS - Exivious

Kdo nemá rád improvizaci a sólování, nechť k albu přistupuje s mírným odstupem a čistou myslí, ale nezavrhuje jej, udělal by hned v počátku velkou chybu. „Vlny myšlenek omývající břehy našeho kolektivního ducha,“ tolik z doprovodného textu k Waves of Thoughts.

Dutch Exivious will probably be one big unknown for the fans that are not interested into the more progressive/technical branches of metal. If I pull out names like Textures or Cynic, things could get clearer. To be exact, the band is formed by the brain, Tymon (guitar and growl in Cynic) and Michel (guitar for Sengaia, a band in which is also Eric Kalsbeek), then Robin (bass for Cynic) and Stef (drums in Textures). After reading this introduction, you will probably think that Exivious is a new band. Mistake! Tymon has already been leading Exivious for 12 years, 12 years also being the period that the unpatient had to suffer until the release of the debut; I don´t count the demos from 2001 and 2002. Was the waiting worth it?

Yes, it definitely was! As Exivious offer 47 minutes of the most delicate (technical and progressive as I don´t even have to mention) jazz metal (not metal jazz, that´s the new Panzerballet) where the term fusion fits way betterWho doesn't like improvisation or solos should approach the album with slight distance and clear mind, but shouldn't condemn it from the beginning. „Waves of thought, washing upon the shores of our collective spirit“, this is the supporting lyrics to Waves of Thoughts.thanthe wig of the coach Frantisek Vyborny; the music is really half jazz half metal. After the first listens and reading the names of the authors of the „songs“ (quotation marks because the songs only have firm basic structure above which there is improvisation) you will see that you can´t tell which one of the authors is the main author of the song. Another thing to be pleased about is the fact that we have here after a short a time another purely instrumental band, after Animal As Leaders, this time a quartet. But here the vocals are substituded by wonderful guitar solos (Embrace the Unknown), which are not based on the number of the tones played, but rather emotively sail in a out of the compositions and thus perfectly compensate for missing vocals.

If you take Animal As Leaders as strongly emotive, distinctly melodic and often shifting and changing, here you will get much the same characteristics. But in Exivious important role is carried by the main idea of the song that blossoms like a flower-bud throughout the whole of it´s playtime. It always has a connecting line and by its shaping it blossoms into the final breathtaking bloom. First, the listener will realise this in the calmer parts (The Path) where he will realise clearly how detailed and careful is the work with every motive, how sophisticated is the evolution, without any excessive rush forward. Also there is the fact that contrary to AAL Exivious is an actual band, so the sound is pretty different, way more lively and absolutely non-digital, wonderfully analog, where the sound of the proper instruments really stands out – to point out the drums and bass necessary! And finally, Exivious play a completely different genre than AAL.

Because here you won´t find any chugging. The pickings are also pretty dizzy and complex, but they are founded, as i have already used a word fusion, rather logically on jazzrock (synonym for fusion). On the boostered backgrounds Exivious use strongly phrased motives (certain similarity to Textures; An Elusive Need), but still, no chugging. The guitars in general go into/against themselves almost perfectly arranged (as if the guitarist were each holding one side of the saw and sawing a big log) and not unusually motives of different lenghts are composed into one whole, with caressing bass mixed into them, often reaching for jazz standards and over the top of this all are scattered the drums.

When we take inspirations and a general approximation, I must mention Cynic for metal, even though Exivious sound completely different, for the ambient and art-rocky parts Gordian Knot and King Crimson (both in All That Surrounds), for jazz, where the synthetized guitar backings are often used, obviously Allan Holdsworth, where every sound is carefully picked so that nothing gets distorted and everything is in a perfect sound harmony. And yeah, if Allan, then you will even get some legato solos. (This guy in general has influenced too much a few famous metal guitar ears: Thordendal, Mameli, Coprofago etc.)

Obviously i don´t want it to sound like Exivious are just a mixture of these bands/artists. Exivious put their own stamp on everything they play and during the album you will get decompositions (either in riffs or in background), slide guitars, here with some light jazzy stuff, there with tech-metal riffage in the veins of Spiral Architect or Canvas Solaris (by the way a recommend this trio, they are pretty close to Exivious) together with a wide spectrum of guitar techniques and rhythmical variability (mathematics in Asurim). And what i like on Exivious as well (and a lot!) is that the same things your hear from the record you get live. Nothing cut out, not only studio beauty job, without any decorations, pure. (And by the way even some concerts have already been planned, in Czech too!).

In short: Exivious offer on Exivious the best and most precise debut, that i have heard in years (i could mention Linear Sphere for example). You can´t even pick compositions that would represent this record clearly, but hopefully you won´t get out of your head at least songs number 2 and 9, I can´t. Exivious is a debut of a fully mature band, it is full of amazing instrumental performances, musical visions and tearing down of the usual standards. The music is thoughtfull, it merges with you and kapes itself according to your mood, it draws you imide of its sparkling world, but inspite of this it has unexpected force. Masterpiece!

And one small notion before i end: if someone complains about Traced in Air that Exivious are more Cynic than Cynic themselves, what would then the Masvidals be about if they only fulfilled the expectations, didn´t surprise and just recorded a second Focus?
 
Translated by kotek.

Recenze dalších autorů

Přihlašte se pro přidávání recenzí.

Tvé hodnocení:

Tagy:

Exivious, instrumental, jazz, progressive metal, Cynic, Textures, fusion

aktuálně

diskuze