From Darksoul VII
May, 2004
XEX's disc "Mixed Signals" is at times very heavy, at times emotional, and at times just fun. The song "Get Shit Faced" is particularly amusing. The technicality on this disc waxes and wanes, there is some excellent guit [+]From Darksoul VII
May, 2004
XEX's disc "Mixed Signals" is at times very heavy, at times emotional, and at times just fun. The song "Get Shit Faced" is particularly amusing. The technicality on this disc waxes and wanes, there is some excellent guitar work, and nice drumming. The vocals from song to song are all over the place in style. Almost every song is different, track 6, "Creature" has double bass, crazy leads, and death vocals with clean(er) parts thrown in. You can feel like you popped in The Mentors one second, Offspring the next, Alice in Chains after that, then Seven Mary Three next. And the list goes on in influences and styles from 80's rock bands to metal bands, 90's grunge to recent rock styles. You can even find classical made metal with songs like track 8, "Wolfgang's 40", and "Amadeus Jig" which are pretty cool and kind of funny.
"Mixed Signals" really is a diverse body of work. "...."
All in all, a trip.
----------------------------------------------------------
XEX's second cd release entitled Mixed Signals is not your typical doom metal album. What it is: a generous 17, high intensity, emotionally laden tracks running the gamut stylistically from vintage 80s US metal to thrash to a darker contemporary metal-with-a-message. While songs like "Breaking of Earth" and "Bathing in Ashes" give the album a strong anti-establishment theme, it is "lightened up" with the tongue-in-cheek gothic darkness of songs like "Grunge Girl in Hell" and instrumental nods to the classical masters in "Wolfgang's 40" and "Amadeus Jig". Front man Alf DeVarona has six strings singing, pounding out a complex baseline that drives the band farther and farther down the less traveled paths of contemporary progressive metal. Bryan "Bra" Maddox is a nimble fingered metal avatar throwing out blistering ax licks one minute then drawing the listener into moody, contemplative rhythms the next. Pete Wadams gives it up for the cause on drums, completing the circle and fanning the flames to create an experience forged for the true metal fan. The bands combined contributions on vocals reveal depths of perception hidden in their original lyrics. In short, XEX's newest album "Mixed Signals" is a visceral sensation conceived, nurtured, and unleashed by heavy metal fa
|
 |
Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
Full Tracks
