Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Exmortus - The Sound of Steel (2018)

Sigh.  I kind of feel like Exmortus exist in the wrong era.  The old-school album artwork should really be clue enough but those retro heavy/speed metal  vibes are not just isolated to the album cover alone.  Within the ten tracks here there is enough 1990's neoclassical references as you could ever hope to find (if "hope" is the right word for you - it is not for me, "misfortune" is a much more accurate word).  All this guitar wankery is played at breakneck speed to try and impress further upon the listener how talented the artist is.  Problem is it is all the energy of Vektor, rehashed into some dull attempt to sound vaguely as interesting as they were; I mean this kind of album is one of the main reasons that I left The Guardians clan behind last year.

Literally no opportunity to show-off is missed on here.  However long the intro to a song is, rest assured that some lead or over the top melodies are right around the corner.  They even have the nerve to park an instrumental track in the middle of the album and call it A Minor Instrumental.  If only they would have confined all the showboating to this one track!  When not widdling their way to eternity the band try and get the chops going but it lacks any edge to make this anything like a thrash release with any concrete credentials.  This is just an exhausting record and I do not not what tired me out soonest, the content or the continued reaching for the mouse to skip the album along.

Utterly pointless and instantly forgettable, The Sound of Steel is all filler and no killer. Yes the guitarists can play and the sub-genre (Neoclassical thrash??) demands more of this stuff but it is just so dull and presents zero appeal to me.