There are times when tracking down background information is the biggest part of a review. There are so many start-up acts that have not made themselves household names. That hasn’t been the case for Exorcism; albeit it, it has taken some 7-8 years for this four-piece to release their first album. Yes! 7-8 years, since formation, to release their debut. The names Csaba Zvekan, Joe Stump, Lucio Manca, and Garry King may not roll off the tongue or fill the head with memories of “metals” royalty; but these guys have been around long enough to know their stuff. The reason for the slow start-up to release their debut is reasonable as well, they work with some international associates that are a little bit better known and have taken up their creative time (Raven Lord, Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Beck, Killing Machine to name but a few).
In the case of this debut, the music is a step back to the late ’80s, when metal completely ruled the world.
Wikipedia hails them as Doom Metal, but I think this is far from the truth and can’t help but feel I’ve stepped back into a world of dungeons and dragons, glitz and glamour (not to mention make-up), where this music would have sat perfectly within any work by Dio, Scorpians, Europe, Whitesnake, Blue Murder or even the late 80’s work of Ozzy Osbourne.
The album does however start off with a couple of “doom” style pieces with “End of Days” and “I am God”, which give it a little different shape; but that’s where it stops. Highlights (musically) are “Exorcism”, “Higher”, “Fade the Day” and “Zero-G” all of which rip through the metal handbook of shredded guitars, punching riffs, and gargantuan drum kits. The commerciality of the rhythms has all the hallmarks of greatness, if only there was a time machine to send these guys back to the glory days.
If just listening to music is your thing and you don’t have a care for the lyrical content (and you’re an “80’s” child), this is your album.
It has some quality riffs, the solos kick arse and the music is tight.
It definitely has that commercial quality that makes hard music easy to listen to. However, if you are into lyrics, I can’t say this is where you want to go. The songs lack a storyline for me, they seem to be stuck on the song title with incessant overplay (e.g. apparently the master of evil is the master of evil – What has he actually done to deserve this, one will never know). Maybe I can’t hear the story underneath, maybe it’s subliminal, but the words don’t seem to tell a story and the choruses have no substance.
Given it has taken 7-8 years to release I would have thought a lot more body could have been produced to choose from. Perhaps these guys just need a better lyrical scribe; actually, that is it, they only need that! The music is very good and I’m sure punters would come back for more if that minor element was focused on.
Exorcism: N/A
Release Year: 2014
Label: Golden Core Records
Category: Album
Country: Serbia / Norway / Greece
Reviewed by Eugene Crabtree
