Phil Anselmo
undoubtedly has the perfect heavy metal voice. Its mercilessly
aggressive – the sound of flowing testosterone and swirling red
mist.
This new project of
Phil's sees him really showing off his range, alternating between
high screams, low growls and hardcore shouting. Since the disbanding of Pantera, Phil has pretty much done whatever he feels
like, working on a variety of side projects and bands. This new
creation of his is a concoction of various heavy metal genres – the
aim of the game to be as extreme as possible.
Now, I'm no wimp
when it comes to metal, but sadly this album was beyond my threshold.
It's not a question of being too heavy or too brutal. Take the album
Abandon All Life by Nails as a point of comparison.
This album, Abandon
All life, is about as hard-hitting as an atom bomb. The difference
between this album and Walk Through Exits Only however comes
down to length and groove. Whilst Abandon All Life is only 17
minutes in length, Walk Through Exits Only pummels the
listener for over 40 minutes and yet feels longer. Whilst Abandon
All Life offers satisfying moments of headbangability, Walk
Through Exits Only is a mass of dissonant riffs and odd time
signatures that barely seem to connect. There is little or no room on
the album to simply rock out.
All in all, it's just a bit too dissonant for me. I adore Phil's voice and
the murky production over the top is fantastic. Although I can see
myself returning to individual songs from the album (the song featured below is one of my favourites), the entire record is too much for me to handle in one listen.
★★★☆☆
★★★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: