Exocosm - Spiral Of Decay
Finland's Exocosm are a band that unquestionably and deliberately fall into the progressive tech-thrash crowd, proudly wearing their influences on their sleeve like the badges of honour that they are. Technical thrash metal has been somewhat nonexistant during the thrash metal resurgence of the past fifteen years with the only new bands of note being Mutant and Vektor, alongside a few Voivod releases and the reformation of Toxik and Coroner being the only real presence that it's had amongst the wave of brainless drooling teenagers forming Exodus-fellating clone bands with all the technicality of a fried egg so considering that this is Exocosm's first release, I had high hopes. The band's frontman Severi - whom I've actually spoken to numerous times in the past - was kind enough to send me a CD copy of the album for review, being the lovely chap that he is.
Straight off the bat, "Spiral Of Decay" is a monstrously impressive piece of work. One problem a few technical bands struggle with is the fine balance between being complex and progressive while still pulling the reigns back to ensure that they don't get carried away in order to keep the tracks recognisable as songs and this is where Exocosm excel. There's never any occasion where the band starts coming across as somewhat self-congratulatory with their musical complexity (I'm looking at you, Vektor) and to make matters even more interesting, there are a couple of genuine jazzy interludes to be found here - not in the Coroner sense where it's jazz influenced, actual jazz composition and sound. Amidst metal in the vein of Voivod, Death, Coroner, Cynic etc. I know, it sounds fucking stupid and shouldn't go together well - that's like putting beef in ice cream - but it's so bizarre and unexpected that it actually works perfectly, with Surreality and Sculpture of Flesh being prime examples. There seems to be a thing with tech-thrash bands and outer space (again, see Vektor and Mutant) and Exocosm are no different, going so far as to describe themselves as "Thrash metal with galaxies and shit" on their website, and you can tell by the atmosphere this album creates that they really love their galaxies. And shit. Those jazzy mid sections, clean sections and tempo changes are incredibley immersive which isn't something that albums are usually capable of doing... it's all just so goddamn good for a first album!
It's closed out by a fantastic instrumental too, which gains bonus points for being named after a tough-as-fuck level from Crash Bandicoot, but also gains more bonus points (along with the rest of album) for that aforementioned 'technicality-without-being-congratulatory' approach. There's still a plethora of good old fashioned thrash riffing going on (the riff from 'Trapped In Infinity' sticks out) so Exocosm manage to tick every single goddamn box on the list with next to no problems so there's something for everyone to enjoy. What surprised me even further was that Severi self-produced the album and despite it sounding ever so slightly hollow here and there, it's actually pretty fucking amazing for home production. It's got a nice warm, comfortable sound and it's certainly far more appealing to the ears than the overproduced brash loudness of say, Vektor's albums (which are still awesome, just in a completely different way) and makes it an easy listen. Even though these ten tracks are stretched over the course of an hour, I highly doubt that anyone will tire of this quickly.
Exocosm's "Spiral Of Decay" is sat comfortably next to Gama Bomb's "The Terror Tapes" as the biggest yet most welcome surprise release of the year for me. For a band to put out a debut release of this quality is utterly staggering, and Exocosm have slapped the stale thrash metal scene in the chops with their gigantic collective dongs in doing so. I never thought I'd hear another modern tech-thrash band that were this good, and I'll happily include this in my top three albums of 2013. Buy "Spiral Of Decay" as soon as you can, it's incredible.
Straight off the bat, "Spiral Of Decay" is a monstrously impressive piece of work. One problem a few technical bands struggle with is the fine balance between being complex and progressive while still pulling the reigns back to ensure that they don't get carried away in order to keep the tracks recognisable as songs and this is where Exocosm excel. There's never any occasion where the band starts coming across as somewhat self-congratulatory with their musical complexity (I'm looking at you, Vektor) and to make matters even more interesting, there are a couple of genuine jazzy interludes to be found here - not in the Coroner sense where it's jazz influenced, actual jazz composition and sound. Amidst metal in the vein of Voivod, Death, Coroner, Cynic etc. I know, it sounds fucking stupid and shouldn't go together well - that's like putting beef in ice cream - but it's so bizarre and unexpected that it actually works perfectly, with Surreality and Sculpture of Flesh being prime examples. There seems to be a thing with tech-thrash bands and outer space (again, see Vektor and Mutant) and Exocosm are no different, going so far as to describe themselves as "Thrash metal with galaxies and shit" on their website, and you can tell by the atmosphere this album creates that they really love their galaxies. And shit. Those jazzy mid sections, clean sections and tempo changes are incredibley immersive which isn't something that albums are usually capable of doing... it's all just so goddamn good for a first album!
It's closed out by a fantastic instrumental too, which gains bonus points for being named after a tough-as-fuck level from Crash Bandicoot, but also gains more bonus points (along with the rest of album) for that aforementioned 'technicality-without-being-congratulatory' approach. There's still a plethora of good old fashioned thrash riffing going on (the riff from 'Trapped In Infinity' sticks out) so Exocosm manage to tick every single goddamn box on the list with next to no problems so there's something for everyone to enjoy. What surprised me even further was that Severi self-produced the album and despite it sounding ever so slightly hollow here and there, it's actually pretty fucking amazing for home production. It's got a nice warm, comfortable sound and it's certainly far more appealing to the ears than the overproduced brash loudness of say, Vektor's albums (which are still awesome, just in a completely different way) and makes it an easy listen. Even though these ten tracks are stretched over the course of an hour, I highly doubt that anyone will tire of this quickly.
Exocosm's "Spiral Of Decay" is sat comfortably next to Gama Bomb's "The Terror Tapes" as the biggest yet most welcome surprise release of the year for me. For a band to put out a debut release of this quality is utterly staggering, and Exocosm have slapped the stale thrash metal scene in the chops with their gigantic collective dongs in doing so. I never thought I'd hear another modern tech-thrash band that were this good, and I'll happily include this in my top three albums of 2013. Buy "Spiral Of Decay" as soon as you can, it's incredible.
1. Sphere
2. Last World
3. Surreality
4. Sculpture Of Flesh
5. Spiritual Killing
6. Trapped In Infinity
7. Cosmic Horizon
8. Out Of Place
9. Spiral Of Decay
10. Sunset Vista
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Jun 21, 2013
Jun 21, 2013
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