Album Review: Exa - Left In Shards
Reviewed by Carl Black
Exa’s new album 'Left in Shards' is a missing link to a link that is missing. Heavily influenced by early 90s metal (that strange time where nobody particularly liked or promoted heavy music but yet produced some of the genres best loved and most revered music). This is most notable on the song 'Free Mind' where the singer speaks during a breakdown in the music where he's so angry he can barely get the words from his mouth and he tries to hold it back but yet he can't and then, right at the very end just when you think he can no longer hold in the anger... he erupts into an explosion of rage. (
Back in that era the Machine Heads and Sepulturas were definitely bridges from the old school thrash to the new modern metal. Unfortunately for Exa, they are a link from the 90’s thrash metal in into the newer metal, however with the music on show on 'Left in Shards' it's too modern for the old school to really appreciate. With the big rounded sound, the groovy choruses and the massive riffs and yet it falls short of the blast beating, machine gun rapid drumming, growling death core of modern metal.
So the chasm that Exa are trying to span just falls short of either camp which leaves Exa lost in the middle. That's not to say that there is some great music on here, being proud Berliners they have a Teutonic streak running through them with one eye on very aggressive thrash metal. Their playing and production is absolutely supreme with not a second wasted. The production job is top quality, they never go too fast, they never dip into complete ballads either. The arrangements are not off the wall but not completely obvious. Once again they find themselves a little bit in the middle.
'Return to Madness', the album opener, builds nicely with the groove laced chorus. They pace out with songs like 'Free Mind' and 'Witch Hunt'. Subtler songs like 'Under His Eye' and 'Hire to Fire' break the pace somewhat. By the end of the album you kind of get it and to be fair the running order could be any combination. If you played the songs in any order you’d still feel that you had the formula by the end of the seventh or eighth song.
Should all new music push boundaries? I am not sure of the answer but good music is good music and thrash metal is no exception. It sounds fresh but it's not the most cutting edge album you’ll hear this year.
