Arson Cafe: Exaltation - Under Blind Reasoning Review

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Exaltation - Under Blind Reasoning Review

I am trying to make up my mind about this album and it constantly proves to be not so straightforward. It's fairly clear that this band has its heart at the right place when it comes to playing death metal, with its thick, stomping production, the cavernous growls (plus some sparse moments of painful screaming), and slithering guitar lines that bypass all temptations of modernity but instead root themselves in the old school, violent form of the genre, somewhere between Sadistic Intent and Incantation. Under Blind Reasoning has some bangers too, like "Fate Revolt" and "Impious Massacre", which are tracks short in duration and quite entertaining to listen to, mainly where most of Exaltation's potency lies. At the same time, the band's serious weak point is often its slower moments, as it takes more than just playing notes slowly to be efficient when one goes to such territories, and unfortunately many parts of the compositions feel like there was uncertainty on how to continue, so a filler slow part was added. "Ascension" is a dreadful example of this, where all riffs are really mediocre, and for this reason the album as a whole starts with a rather anti climactic way ("Iron Rebellion" and "Impending Decease" are both on the weaker side of the scale). Across the board, I didn't receive the expected heaviness or intensity from the band, neither from the musicianship nor from the sound, as one that dominates let's say, in a Dead Congregation album. Since Exaltation are molded from this kind of clay, and their work is not overly sub par, after a few listens there's several points in terms of song writing as well as structure that they could improve, in order to actually create a competent album. Under Blind Reasoning is the kind of release I always hope that I will like before listening to it, as it lies close to my taste radars, yet Exaltation didn't knock my socks off at the end of the day. A couple of good tunes and a generally acceptable presence save the record from a complete slump. [2.5/5 - Average]

Origin: New Zealand

Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories

Release date: July 29th, 2022

Listen: Spotify

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Reckoning

From all the hills came screams. A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching. It was a loosened circle of evening sky, suddenly lighted from the back. It was an abrupt black body out of nowhere; it was a flat disk; it was almost over the sun. That is when there were screams. At once this disk of sky slid over the sun like a lid. The sky snapped over the sun like a lens cover. The hatch in the brain slammed. Abruptly it was dark night, on the land and in the sky. In the night sky was a tiny ring of light. The hole where the sun belongs is very small. A thin ring of light marked its place. There was no sound. The eyes dried, the arteries drained, the lungs hushed. There was no world. We were the world’s dead people rotating and orbiting around and around, embedded in the planet’s crust, while the earth rolled down. Our minds were light-years distant, forgetful of almost everything.