EXESS: Deus Ex Machinae: Review/Opinion

Swiss band created in 2016, Exess is then propelled by drummer Alan Montanari who will be joined by Stéphane Froidevaux on guitar, Céline Bart on vocals and David Pauli on bass. Four years after its launch, the quartet released its first album in 2020, "Deus Ex Machina" on the Fastball Music label.

The band is self-classified in the groove metal register. It must be said that David Pauli's bass grooves well ('The Letter', 'Chrysalis', 'Feel The Right Hand'...), and is supported by a guitar around which everything is built, since there is no second guitar, synthesizer or other melodic instrument in the band. So the tracks are often very catchy and direct. The opening track 'Not An Eternal Day' is surely the best example of this with its explosive riff and its well found chorus, which reminds Porcupine Tree's time "In Absentia", or the riff of 'Pay No Mind' and its incisive intro.

Even on less excited tracks, the guitar is at the centre of the debates, as it is the case on the very rock track 'Feel The Right Hand' where a lot of riffs follow one another, always very clean, sometimes even relatively technical like the last one of the song, which practically takes note by note the one of Dream Theater's 'Panic Attack'. To be noted, the presence of the lovely ballad 'Bittersweet Lullaby' that is a breath of fresh air where you can hear the folk guitar sound for the first time on the album. Perhaps a few more lighter tracks like this one, in a pop-folk vein, are missing to contrast the general mood of the album. Also, the presence of male throat vocal out of nowhere on the track 'Nothing Is Left' is quite intriguing, although the track itself proves to be one of the strongest on the album. Finally, a slightly heavier production would no doubt be welcome, to give the instruments a bit more body and a bit more power and dynamism.

Nevertheless, for a first album, the result is there, and it's conclusive! Exess has some good days ahead of him and we wish him a good trip!