Album Review: Exist Immortal – Exist Immortal (Seek & Strike)

Progressive metal juggernauts Exist Immortal return with their striking self-titled album, due for release on the 14th of October 2022 via Seek & Strike.

Exist Immortal comment on their upcoming album:

We are very excited to present our latest, self-titled, full-length album. For us this is a culmination of a lot of work, building and evolving. We bring back a lot of the heavier elements from our older releases while keeping a lot of the aesthetics and layers from Triptych. As musicians we have always struggled with where to place ourselves amongst our peers and always written music we wanted to make over intentionally fitting into existing trends. We feel that this album is by far our most accomplished and self-assured record to date, reincorporating harsh vocals while exploring new territory on the guitar side of things.

Kicking off the album with a pair of guests. We have Aliases/ex-SikTh vocalist Joe Rosser appearing on Behind the Eyes and we have songwriter/guitarist Moray Pringle on Signal Fire. The former is an immediate hit of progressive dopamine, energised heaviness with a thrilling amount of technical edge. Whereas the latter is a pounding blast of modern groove and melody, hitting one heck of a high in the chorus.

Such a strong start would be a problem for a lesser band but this is Exist Immortal and with Flare, they only grow in stature. The ‘call to arms’ vocal introduction, leading to a vigorous rhythm that gets downright aggressive at times. Before a combination of powerful melody and ripping heaviness makes Shelter a bit of an anthem. White Noise following that with intensity and wild energy. Exist Immortal upping the speed significantly and delivering heart palpitations with it. The chorus here, is particularly killer.

Refocusing on their brand of modern progressive depth, Yours to Define is one of the album’s most challenging tracks. The urgency in the vocals and the ethereal melodies are pushing against each other but Exist Immortal do a fantastic job of making them work well together. Whereas All the Same is as simple as it gets for this band, which is still something far more unique than most. The instrumentals of this song creating quite a clamour.

Harbinger vocalist Dilan Alves then makes a startling guest appearance for the track On the Wire. Lending his powerful chords to a track that is progressively wild but layered with forward thinking modern effects and melodies. Another excellent track on an album full of them.

Speaking of which… how good is Trapped Inside? The opening guitar medley, joined by the rest of the instruments and then, the arrival of the vocals. It’s like a hyperactive pop-post-punk track, albeit warped by Exist Immortal’s progressive talents and penchant for heavier bursts. One of the album’s most uniquely interesting listens.

Although Emerge might pale in comparison, it’s still a bright burst of melodic highs and heavy lows. So, once again, there’s simply nothing to complain about.

Ending as they begun, the finale of Casting Eyes features a guest and this time it’s deathcore vocalist Luke Griffin of Acrania, Human Error & Scribe of Existence. His filthy roars matching the eye-watering guitar technicality and balanced out nicely by the clean singing.

An album that gets better and better as it goes on. This is how you turn even more heads in your direction.

Exist Immortal – Exist Immortal Full Track Listing:

1. Behind the Eyes (Ft. Joe Rosser)
2. Signal Fire (Ft. Moray Pringle)
3. Flare
4. Shelter
5. White Noise
6. Yours to Define
7. All the Same
8. On the Wire (ft. Dilan Alves)
9. Trapped Inside
10. Emerge
11. Casting Eyes (Ft. Luke Griffin)

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