Exist Immortal
Breathe
(Primordial Records)
Exist Immortal have been a bit of a “best kept secret” in the djent world, in large part because they both do everything you want from a modern progressive metal band, and because they color beautifully outside the lines. Their debut Darkness of an Age showcased a group who understood how to create crushingly heavy modern prog. Yet, they were not willing to sit back on devastating low-end, recalling TesseracT, Textures, and Xerath, which is to say it was sprawling and technical without getting lost in tech-y BS. The ace in the hole was/is vocalist Meyrick de la Fuente, whose soaring voice stands with the best of the genre, and his growls are solid. Because of Meyrick’s voice, the band’s songwriting often feels more traditionally prog than djent (see: TesseracT).
Thankfully, the band doubled down on their prog tendencies, as Breathe (pardon the pun) gives the band’s sound more room to breathe. The songwriting is more expansive and a tad more adventurous. Exist Immortal still rarely escape mid-paced chugging, but the moments they do are thrilling (especially “Follow Alone”). Plus, Meyrick’s vocals have only gotten better; his “hooks” are stellar, and he’s getting to the Dan Tompkins level of greatness. His range and power are superb. It doesn’t hurt that the band have upped their game as well. The production on the record is oddly brick-walled; sure it makes everything clean, but it flattens everything and minimizes the effect of everything but the vocals, which is an odd choice.
Otherwise, Exist Immortal have expanded their sonic horizons more to a tech-y form of modern prog. They’re not exactly Haken or Leprous, but they have much more in common with them now than before. Thankfully, they still know how to groove, as “Invisible Lines” shows (and a number of moments throughout highlight as well). Overall, Breathe is an impressive step up for a band who seem ready to take the next step into the prog spotlight (if such a thing existed). Flattened production problems aside, Exist Immortal have taken a big leap here and shouldn’t be a secret much longer.
