i don't write any best of year lists but if i did, "so true, so bound" would be a strong contender to make the top three. this thing pretty much came out of the blue. but let us start with the beginning. i am subscribed to the prosthetic records mailing list and at some point in may i was informed about the coming full length of a band called exist. never heard of them before. driving force behind exist is max phelps. he is the voice of the death tribute band death to all and played in cynic. these two bands run deep in the musical veins of phelps.
after i listened to "so true, so bound" a couple of times i would summerise the sound of exist as a sophisticated mixture out of death and cynic. take the progressive death metal of later era death and season it with the melodical atmosphere of cynic and you get a fair idea of what exist sound like. the album is demanding but equally rewarding when you give it a little time to fully unfold. check out the video to "take my picture" and witness the band's take on today's presentation of self via social media.
i really like the sound on this album. not as polished as most technical death metal records but still very forceful. love the bass in the mix in particular. hannes grossmann of ex-necrophagist and ex-obscura fame provided the drum play and bobby koelble who is also part of the death to all project and was part of the legendary line-up of death's "symbolic" record lended is talent on "to sever the strings". so loads of metal fame on here.
i ordered my copy via emp mailorder. the description said nothing about the colour-way and the mock-up picture showed a single black vinyl copy. on the prosthetic record store i was able to find only double colour vinyl and so i assumed emp just had scarce information and therefore used a standard procedure in showing the item as single black vinyl. i took the gamble because it was also priced as a single lp and it paid off. lovely light blue marble vinyl matching the artwork perfectly. a masterpiece through and through. prosthetic records. 2017.
