Exocrine – Legend

Written by on 25-01-2024 at 18:55.

Exocrine from Bordeaux releasing their sixth album. Their previous albums are full of very attractive progressive technical death metal and are absolute gems. While the previous album was released by Unique Leader, this time new music sees the light of day through fellow countrymen Season of Mist. The quartet from ‘Port de la lune’ receives a lot of superlatives from their new record company: Exocrine are architects of sonic transcendence, explorers of the uncharted, and pioneers of the unimaginable. The new album is called Legend. A pun from the record company was therefore inevitable: ‘a true testament to their status as legends in the making.’ Hopefully, the content of the album is more convincing than this obvious and lame pun.

On the sixth album of the French foursome, the basis (as we have come to expect from them) is still progressive, technical death metal. Intro Presage does provide a subdued start but when the riffs then swell menacingly, the brakes are completely released. The opening track alone is a nice summary of what Exocrine stands for: a barrage of riffs, a considerable amount of blast beats, memorable solos, unusual time signatures, often performed in a hectic, heightened tempo, sudden time changes, and changes in the atmosphere. Halfway through Legend we suddenly hear the return of an old acquaintance, which we also occasionally encountered on the beautiful album Maelstrom from 2020: the trumpet. Accompanied by drums in the background this one gets a moment to shine without taking away any of the intensity and biting liveliness. It is – I didn’t expect to ever write this about a wind instrument: unfortunately – the only moment we hear the instrument on the album.

To give the music more depth, content, and variety, Exocrine often supplements his songs with small nuances. On the previous album The Hybrid Suns, the band did this by using acoustic guitars, some sporadic female vocals, and adding electronic sounds and tunes. In this way, the foursome prevents their performance from ever degenerating into technical sleight of hand simply for the sake of speed but from everything being purely in service of the compositions. Even though the elements were included in the songs, on that album they sometimes felt as if they had been superimposed rather than fully integrated. This time the female vocals have been completely omitted. You will come across the acoustic guitar again; it gives both Dagon and By The Light Of The Pyre a sensitive send-off at the end. Apart from some minor differences, so more or less a repetition of moves? Are you a bit deceived or what?

Once again you will encounter plenty of tunes and extra sounds, but they are built in with a bit more nuance and refinement. They are not separate sounds that should give the song some more cachet but genuine extensions or parts of the song. The band mainly looks for compositional variations; all the extra keyboard lines, soundscapes, and whatnot are fully integrated and this not only creates a difference in nuances but also, above all, even richer and fuller compositions. In Eidolon the tempo slows down after two minutes and the song has a subdued guitar line which later reappears when the blast beats and tempo acceleration are at it again. The aforementioned Dragon also has a moment where guitar and keyboard take over before a slightly melodic guitar line runs over it. This guitar line, which goes against the grain of the rest of the instruments, continues for a while and seems to have a life of its own. The Altar Of War has a bit of spoken words at the end. The Oath opens with some piece of electronics, and in the bonus track Cryogenisation the keyboard takes over halfway through the song with a line that is similar to the intro music from Stranger Things. When the riffs rush over it again, the keyboard line remains elegantly present in the background. Perhaps the conclusion should be that everything sounds a little less straightforward.

Another fine example of this rich coloring is By The Light Of The Pyre. It has a visual, cinematic intro that consists of classical music and takes you into the song in a mesmerized way. When the song is taken over by heaviness, flying arpeggios, staccato drums, and technical dexterity, a melodic guitar line as we previously encountered in Dragon, rears its head again. Now the foursome from Bordeaux is certainly not averse to changes in tempo and atmosphere but on this song, there doesn’t seem to be a single boundary on the tempo changes. When it accelerates again towards the end, guitar lines and drums go their way without losing coherence for a beat. And sure enough, there’s that acoustic guitar again towards the end.

Legend seems to fit seamlessly within Exocrine‘s already impressive discography. The band once again performs their progressive, technical death metal beautifully and passionately and uses nuances to not only completely avoid the feeling of a repetitive exercise but to make everything even richer and fuller. It’s only January but how about I throw in a bold statement? In terms of progressive technical death metal, there is a good chance that you will not encounter them much more interesting this year. Isn’t it about time that a promoter brought this band to Belgium and the Netherlands?

Score:

90/100

Label:

Season Of Mist, 2024

Tracklisting:

  1. Presage
  2. Legend
  3. Life
  4. Eidolon
  5. The Altar Of War
  6. Dust In The Naught
  7. Warlock
  8. Dragon
  9. The Oath
  10. By The Light Of The Pyre
  11. Cryogenisation (Bonus Track)

Line-up:

  • Sylvain Octor Perez – Guitar
  • Jordy Besse – Bassguitar, vocals
  • Nicolas La Rosa – Guitar
  • Théo Gendron – Drums

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