Exordium
Cyanide Dreams
5
Exordium. I really had no idea what to expect on this one. Exordium plays....black metal? Or something. I don't know, it's metal and the guy screams and growls and there's electronics but I don't know what the fuck this band is about. They're just Exordium playing their music. Confused? Me too.
Here's my thoughts for the boys in Exordium (who hail from the beautiful Bay Area of Northern California). Exordium is like a really hot girl with really ugly feet. I mean so ugly that you can't ignore it. Corns, boils, hammer toes, visible arthritis, two year old nail polish that's still somehow hanging on. Oh, and the "post sock smell". Ugh. Nasty. But, if she keeps her socks on, then everyone's happy. How does this equate to Exordium? I'll explain.
Exordium is more or less playing the same black metal ballgame as say, Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth. There's keyboards, heavy guitars, and lots of melody coming from a number of places. What makes Exordium quirky enough to almost like is the programmed drumming. While some of you may have a reservation against electronic drums, I don't particularly have a problem with them and the drums play well here. The other thing that Exordium utilizes to the utmost is electronics. The same way that The Project Hate weaves bits of electronic dirges into their savagely heavy melee. The same, or similar, could be said for Exordium. The keyboardist/sampler seems to know what he's doing.
Guitar-wise, these guys can play without question. Riffs come in all styles and flavors from tremolo lead runs a la Naglfar to some savage but tasteful break down chugging. The occassional melodic riff pops up but not enough to call these guys metalcore (or whatever it is these days). The bass is inaudible and I'm sure he enjoys his ability to freely make mistakes recording and live while getting free booze and visits from "Brutal Grindcore Hotties" (see their myspace page for a good laugh).
Then there's the vocals. We get black metal screams and death metal growls and neither are effective. The screams are very....Dani. I can hear fangs in this guy's mouth and I don't like it. To his credit, if this style was more in the vein of a Leviathan or Xasthur, the vocals would be somewhat convincing. In this context the vocals are just a bit shrill and emotionless. Maybe a couple of protein shakes and some benchpresses would do the trick. The death metal vocals pop up from time to time and they're not good either; Monotone Frank Mullen-isms with no inflection. All this compounded with some really boring vocal arrangements makes for some really stinky feet.
There's some serious potential here but here's what they need: new vocalist, Hellhammer to takeover the drums, and maybe some Andy Sneap production. I would also say that a 52 minute album in this style is completely unnecessary. It just gets old after awhile. The one other thing Exordium does right is the instrumentals. "Empiria" gives a lot of false hope that this album might be innovative (it's not) and "Undying Embrace" has some awesome acoustic work. "In the Shape of Despair" is a really good instrumental too with some syncopated trance rhythms and bits of keyboard, such polarity here.
I wish the keyboardist, guitar players, and the slutty bassist would fire everyone and revamp the lineup as there's some talent in this band that could shine someday. For now though, a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Now, I'm ready for some 'Brutal Grindcore Hotties'. Keep your socks on ladies.
