Exalt is Hardcore/Metalcore. I have never heard of this band until a link to a download of their first full-length release, Breach False Minds, showed up in my mailbox. I did a search on the internet to find something about the band and quickly discovered four bands using the same name. Hmmmmmm…….so what to do? I listened to the music. Now I know which links to click on; the links that mention Canada, Hardcore and Metalcore. I’m not going to get into the history of the band or the members. I’m going to address the music.

The first track I listened to was Loss Rejoice. Great, I thought, somebody yelling at me, again………Second track, the yelling continued from the start. The track is Mislead. I thought, yeah, I wasn’t misled, the first song just ran on into the second song. Third track, Warmth & Winter, hmmmmm….maybe this isn’t just the same run of the mill stuff after all. I’m starting to hear some things develop. The drumming isn’t all the same. The guitar riffs have a bit of variety. Let’s move on. Partisan Eyes. Oh, yeah, I like the mix ups. The changes in beat, the changes in speed, the changes in hooks. I gotta explore further. Empty Dreamer Frail As Feathers. Damn if this band doesn’t draw me quickly into one rhythm and mood and suddenly thrusts me into another! It seemed like time slowed down. The song wasn’t so very long, but it expressed one hell of a lot of different aspects of Metalcore that some bands take an entire album to express! No, wait. The song isn’t finished. It’s a new song. Is that a bit of Sludge I hear there? Whoa! Excellent! My tiny laptop speakers did some great justice to flow of back and forth sound, left to right, right to left. Or was it the production of the music that utilized the ability of these tiny speakers? No Son next. Now I’m starting to really appreciate the vocalist. The guitar work is fantastic, sounds sort of like a lot of other bands, but there’s something else mixed in with it. Oh, I know………the talent of the operators. Those well placed squeals were divine. Serpents At My Feet. Yeah, more of the same……..the unsame! Check out the rest of the songs on this release!

I suppose if I write that this band reminds me of Pink Floyd, people will laugh and scoff. I can understand that. No, they don’t sound a damn thing like Pink Floyd. But the way Pink Floyd could take the Blues, Rock and Symphonic music and mix it all together and come up with something else, still recognizable, but different……..well, this is what Exalt does with what I consider to be a rather limited genre that Hardcore/Metalcore usually is.

If you are a fan of this genre, I suggest you check out Exalt. You shouldn’t be disappointed. If you are not a big fan of Hardcore/Metalcore, as am I not, you just might find yourself happily surprised.

I love me some Metal and I love a Metal band that takes a genre and pushes it further. And Exalt pushes. Pushes hard. And I love to see an art pushed hard.

Bob for Metal Master Kingdom