{"id":49958,"date":"2015-07-29T21:02:07","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T02:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49958"},"modified":"2015-07-29T21:02:07","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T02:02:07","slug":"exises-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/exises-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Exises | Exises<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Exises\"Dutch Heavy Metal band Exises made their debut in 1986 with this self-titled release on the Megaton label. This is a band that ran in the same circles as Picture, Bodine and Highway Chile, but never really emerged from the underground. This, despite having a very compelling sound that touched on the early Power and Progressive Metal scenes.<\/p>\n

While most bands in the Dutch Metal scene drew influences from the NWOBHM scene (and understandably so), Exises cites Rush, Van Halen and Yes as their main influences. Not that the Exises debut is some ultra-proggy album. It\u2019s still very much a Heavy Metal album; it\u2019s just one with a good degree of technicality and a more epic and dramatic atmosphere. There are a lot of similarities to the early Queensryche albums, as well as to Fifth Angel. Vocalist Frank Leurs has a very strong, very powerful voice that\u2019s ideal for this kind of music, and it\u2019s his vocals that bring to mind bands like Shogun and Icon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a potent mix at work here, and the album as a whole is just an excellent example of the \u201880s Progressive\/Power Metal sound. It does have some highlights though, like the powerful \u201cFear For the Night\u201d and \u201cBurn the Lights,\u201d and even the slower, more sentimental \u201cStay With Me\u201d has a wicked solo and a strong metal edge.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the Exises debut was not commercially successful, and it would be a full decade before the band would release a follow-up (1996\u2019s Reternity<\/em>). Even if they didn\u2019t make it big, Exises left behind one of the strongest albums the Dutch Heavy Metal scene had to offer. Fans of the classic \u201880s Heavy Metal sound, particularly the Progressive and Power-oriented bands like Queensryche, Fifth Angel and Crimson Glory, will definitely want to get their hands on this one, especially now that it has been reissued.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: Divebomb\u2019s recent reissue of the Exises debut puts this long out of print album back in fans\u2019 hands. The album features digitally remastered audio and an expanded booklet featuring vintage photos and a new interview with guitarist Michael Siethoff. There is no bonus material, but just having this underground gem available again is something to be excited about.<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nFrank Leurs (v) (k)
\nAdri Sleyster (b) (v)
\nBerend Houter (d)
\nMichael Siethoff (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tFear For the Night
\n2.\tMisunderstood
\n3.\tSome Sort of Freedom
\n4.\tBehind the Wall
\n5.\tBurn the Lights
\n6.\tStay With Me
\n7.\tBrainstorm
\n8.\tCarry On<\/p>\n

Label: Divebomb Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — Dutch Heavy Metal band Exises made their debut in 1986 with this self-titled release on the Megaton label. This is a band that ran in the same circles […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[923,11249,2491,1097,1098],"class_list":{"0":"post-49958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-divebomb-records","9":"tag-exises","10":"tag-heavy-metal","11":"tag-power-metal","12":"tag-progressive-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}