Exit to Eternity - Coming Down
Self-Released 2007
By Axemaiden
When the opening bars of the sombre, yet simplistically beautiful piano melody first rings out on the track
'Requiem', you would be quite forgiven for thinking that a classical album had accidently winged its way to the Ultimate Metal forum. Then your ears are hit with the brutal assault of particularly evil-sounding drums and guitars and you realise that all is normal (relatively speaking) in the world of metal.
Coming Down is the first full-length album released by
Exit to Eternity and although still unsigned, they have been regulars on the metal circuit for quite a number of years and have already established a name for themselves by playing alongside bands such as
Superjoint Ritual,
Testament,
Arch Enemy and
Exodus.
It's fairly obvious from listening to the album that the most inherent musical influences are early
Metallica (think
Kill 'Em All and
Ride the Lightning) and other such old-school acts, for example,
Corrosion Of Conformity and
Anthrax, though often with a slightly heavier sound and a distinct hint of
Pantera-style groove. Certainly when you listen to the second track,
'Coming Down', you can pin-point the influence for many of the riffs, for instance, the extremely well-executed dual guitar melody screams early
Metallica, though without being too similar. Vocally, Carmine Cafaro sounds like a hybrid of Tom Araya, James Hetfield and Scott Ian, which is most apparent on
'Mindless Pawns',
'Kristallnacht' and
'Misery'.
Overall, the album is impressive and one I would listen to again, my favourite track being
'Justice Under God', that begins with a gorgeous acoustic guitar intro reminiscent of
Days of the New, which is then blended perfectly with a throbbing, dirty, Egyptian style groove, fantastic for some hard-core moshing! Probably the biggest annoyance I found with the album would be the production on some of the songs, especially the aforementioned
'Coming Down', in which the vocals seem to get drowned amidst the rest of the music, however, this is not a problem which is recurrent throughout the entire album, so it shouldn't really be a big deterrent to fans. Currently,
Exit to Eternity are searching for a new guitarist, so it should be interesting to see how their sound will continue to develop in the future.
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