Exdead

Progressive/power metal… hm, maybe here and there, but by-and-large this is a technical/progressive thrash recording, very deftly executed at that as well, by this very obscure batch from old Sofia town who rose to the occasion just this once, but made sure both the undead and the exdead were thrown in bouts of awe and veneration for a bit under an hour.

The album starts in an awesome intricate fashion with the title-track and the lively shape-shifter “Incubus”, throwing bouts of stupendous technical riffage in the vein of Deathrow and Watchtower at the bemused listener who will also totally enjoy the more minimalistic, less exuberant creepy wonder "Camel in The Desert". The shadow of Helstar’s “Nosferatu” rises in full bloom on the galloping virtuoso-prone all-instrumental delight "Little Symphony", the guys shooting for the (hel)stars with each subsequent track, the more pacifying lyrical nature of "Barren Fields" ensuring the less attention-grabbing interlude. The band notch up the atmosphere after this one with "Two in One" and "Awake in The Sleep", two other less energetic, nicely anti-climactic compositions where the ballad springs up again as the guiding motif among splashes of more aggressive behaviour, the latter taking the upper hand once again for the hectic restlessly, also breathlessly-executed shredder "Breath".

Although the striking guitar pyrotechnics from the beginning fail to materialize as prominently in the second half, they do serve their purpose to perturb the prevalent officious less dynamic setting which is again on the positive side, the more academic showdown aptly supervised by the cool mid-ranged Joey Belladonna-sque vocals, the man hesitating at times between more attached singing and authoritative semi-recitals, both sides working well especially on those calmer numbers where the actual power metal connection comes to play, again in a manner exercised by Helstar (remember “The Curse Has Passed Away” from “Nosferatu”). The mentioned US veterans are clearly the main target for worship, but our friends here play with more possibilities within the tech-thrash spectre, sketching a potential for an even finer, more entangled recording.

I found this marvel a few years back along with another classic technical thrash masterpiece from my homeland, Melissa’s “Eyes of the Earth” (also 1993), and couldn’t believe how such great music had remained hidden from me, composed a few kilometres from where I was born… go back home, you international metal archaeologist! There’ve got to be other similar lost souls over there, waiting to be released from their dormant comatose state.