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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Give it a chance!, July 2, 2005
OK, so its obvious that Extol changed a lot since their last album, and basically toned down the 'metalness'. But that by no means makes this a bad album. I'll admit, it may take a little while to grow on you, especially if you are a fan of Extol's earlier works. But once it does grow on you, you will see a new world of beauty and brutality interwoven neatly together into their music. For one, the production on this album is the best out of all their albums. Technically, the songs are a lot more simpler than their older songs, but the production makes it seem just as brutal as it used to be, huge walls of sounds and textures. A good example of this would be the track "The Things I Found", which is full of simple riffs, but the song has this really eerie and sinister atmosphere, coupled with a raging wall of guitars, Peter's evil-ish screams, and beautiful chord progressions. With all these good things in the song, it only lacks the singing. This, for me, is the pinnacle of this album. The singing is very emotional and just awe-inspiring at times, like the chorus in "Void" and, my personal favorite song, "Another Adam's Escape". The interplay between Peter and Ole Halvard Sveen's vocals is just wonderful. It really takes what would otherwise be a mediocre album to new heights.
Probably my only gripe about this album is that it seems their Spirit-filled message has been watered down a bit, but not too much. I mean, you can still tell their on fire for Christ, just not quite as much as, say, on Undecieved, but it still there.
The first time I heard this cd i almost cried, thats how touching it was. For me, this album just has 'it'. There's something about the vocals, the atmosphere, the guitars, and composition of the songs that does for me emotionally what very few albums can.
I am a fan of Extol's earlier works, but i'd say its best to look at this album as a separate entity from those. Let it stand on its own and open up your mind. If you're a fan of progressive rock with great melodies and hooks, positive and hopeful messages, and great energy and atmosphere, go pick this up now and get ready for a ride you'll never forget.
P.S. also try to catch them live, I saw them at cornerstone and they were amazing!! Made me appreciate this cd even more! God bless!!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Major but Welcome Change for Extol, May 4, 2005
Wow, what a major change in the sound of Extol. Some things on here are similar to what they did on "Undeceived"/"Synergy", but for the most part this is an entirely different animal. Gone are the Death/Black metal riffs, vocals, and blast beats, but this is still heavy in a modern thrash/math rock way.
The first thing that stood out to me is how great Peter Espevoll's clean singing vocals sounded. He has totally improved his delivery and his melodies since "Synergy". The songs are very melodic and the vocal lines are very memoral, espcially on "Glorianna", "Pearl", "Another Adam's Escape", and "Essence".
The music, guitar wise, on these new songs have some elements that are very different from there older material and some elements that are still very similar. They still have the angular choppy riffs, unique chord progressions, and jazzy breakdowns, but have replaced the death/black metal shredding riffs and quirky leads with melodic droning chords and beautiful arpeggiating textures. Losing both guitarists at the same time would usually kill a band, but Extol have replaced thier members with new guitarists that have brought alot of new influences with along with them. Returning to the band is former Extol Bassist/Lengsel frontman Tor Glidje and his Lengsel/Ganglion bandmate Ole Halvard Sveenn and they fill the guitar duties nicely!
The new music, i would say, is a more of a melodic metal, progressive doom, and math rock type of thing than any of their older more metal material. This is more in the vein of Opeth, Katatonia, Cave-In, Shiner, Failure, and even has a newer Deftones feel on some of the songs, especially on "The Things I Found" which sound like Deftones with black metal vocals.
The Drumming is great on this record, very solid with alot of awesome transitions and fills, some of which remind me of Danny Carey of Tool. The bass is solid, but nothing about it really stands out. The guitars sound great, very full and clear. The vocals sound amazing and very full and clear. There are some nice extra piano, synths, and string textures throughout the record that add a cool element to some of the songs.
The only downside is that this isnt very heavy in comparison to "Undeceived", which is and will always be my favorite record of theirs, but this might be my second favorite, and it is just way different than anything thay have ever done. There isnt the level of technicality or jawdropping riffs and breakdowns that "Undeceived" had, but this record is very moving and catchy and beautiful. It is a new era for Extol, but i doubt that they will be able to play the older songs any longer or will even want to.
Stand out songs to me are "Glorianna", "Pearl", "Another Adam's Escape", "The Things I Found", "Essence", and "Void".
I totally reccomend this album as something new, fresh, very melodic, deep, and for fans of good music, good musicianship and songwriting.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Extol explores a different musical territory, May 8, 2005
Extol's previous two releases, Undeceived and especially Synergy, were amazing works of technical prog metal with death, black and thrash influences. They played extreme music with lots of harsh and clean vocals, quirky leads, phenomenal drumming, and used plenty of complex time signatures.
The Blueprint Dives differs from the band's predecessors quite a bit, and rightly so. Extol's former guitarists Christer Espevoll and Ole Burud, left the band and were replaced by the Ganglion duo, Tor Magne Glidje and Ole Halvard Sveen. This has caused a noticeable change in the band's sound; the music is relatively less complex, the songs are shorter, the guitars take a back seat providing rhythms rather than choppy riffs, and the bass comes forward stealing the show. However, the biggest difference is in Peter Espevoll's singing. More than half of this 53-minute disc features clean vocals. This time around the harsh, brutal screams are less prominent, but still make themselves heard on the heavier songs such as "Soul Deprived" with thunderous rhythm guitars, killer drumming and a fantastic bass solo; "In Reversal" where the guitars scream like sirens over Floydian atmospheres and obscure piano melodies buried deep down in the mix; or "The Things I Found" which is perhaps the most technical song reminiscent of the earlier albums - great guitar work with atonal sweeping and technical leads make this one of the heaviest songs on the album.
The slower songs tend to bring forth the vocal melodies as on "Pearl", the first single off of this disc (there's also a video of this song on the CD). Peter Espevoll delivers a hauntingly emotional track with lush piano and eerie cymbal work. This one is followed by "From the Everyday Mountain Top", a song defined by numerous breakdowns, acoustic guitars, a powerful guitar theme and ever-present clean-harsh vocals. Drummer David Husvik and bassist John Robert Mjaland give us an ethereal jazzy piano and bass concerto on "Another Adam's Escape", which is one of the most unique songs Extol have ever penned.
My favourite song, however, is the closing track "The Death Sedative". It's dark, it's grim, it's evil. The vocal style and cluttered atmosphere of this song could instantly be associated with Opeth during their Dan Swano-produced first two albums mixed with thick, unbreakable walls of sound on Devin Townsend's solo material. I've yet to read other reviews that praise this song (most people I've talked to are more fond of melodically convincing songs like "Gloria" and "Pearl" so far), but this one is easily the highlight for me.
There is also a nice bonus song on the album titled "Riding for a Fall". It doesn't really sound too different than the other song here, so it's much welcome. Never got into Extol because of their extreme musicality on their older releases? How about giving this one a listen? It may change your mind.
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