Band:
Alan Montanari - Drums
Stéphane Froidevaux - Guitars
Céline Bart - Vocals
David Pauli - Bass
Discography:
Debut
Guests:
Patrick Dujany
Info:
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Carryl Montini and David Grillon at Artsonik Media
Translation by Dag Olsen
Art direction and design by Romain Negro and Alan Montanari
Band Photos by Lindsey Jane Montandon
Original photos: Musee D´Histoire De Moutier
Released 2020-05-01
Reviewed 2020-09-01
Links:
exess.ch
youtube
fastball music
Exess has a female singer in Céline and she sounds quite similar to many female metal vocalists, despite what they claim about her wide range of emotions and whatever else is said in the selling points. They claim that they have genre-blending songs, isn’t that true about most music? But sure, this album doesn’t immediately fit into the typical genre boxes, it is melodic and poppy while maintaining a strong heavier groove. This doesn’t mean that it extends into something surprising or different though, I think they do sound fairly commonplace and to me they do not really extend the boundaries of what they call common metal like it is said in the selling points. They do keep it sensible and the album has a pretty dynamic production and that is always a positive.
Two things I noticed when researching this one on the web was that it was surprisingly few reviews for an album that has been out for a fairly long while when doing a common search. And that I found two of these reviews giving this album a full score, 10 out of 10 and 100 out of 100, that is just nuts. Few reviews is an indication that it is either poorly promoted and that is not my experience of this label, or that the reviewers don’t really like the album as most reviewers don’t seem to dare to write negative or indifferent reviews for some reason so they rather not write at all. But that some of those few claim that it is a timeless classic, a masterpiece that is better than 99% of the albums ever released – that is strange as it is an album that doesn’t have anything that can set it apart in a way that anyone can consider it a timeless classic, it is a good but ultimately a very forgettable album.
The cover Sleeping Satellite is the best track of the album, maybe it is their deus ex machina to come up with a sudden and abrupt solution to the unsolvable problem that is this album. In the end I find it to be quite difficult to write about as the title is the most interesting thing, the music is good but there is nothing to really captivate me and to trigger my imagination and to pique my interest. I listen and like, then it ends, and I immediately turn my attention to more interesting albums – and believe me, there are many such albums out there. So, no deus ex machina in this review, the Swiss band makes a good debut but not much more than that.
HHHHHHH