Customer Reviews

The Blueprint Dives

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!!

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.

I was in awe of Extol's 2nd cd and there 3rd was ok and they bounce back well on this cd w/a nice mix of heavy burtal metal/softer acoustic type of stuff. Toward the end of the cd it starts to get really heavy and then ends kinda soft just like the beginning. I use the word kind of b/c even in the beginning/end of the cd there are still some heavy riffs and heavy drums in quite a few of the songs. Overall I like this cd very much and its in my cd rotation quite often. I know I'm an American but I LOVE EUROPEAN METAL!!! CAN I GET A HELL YA FOR EXTOL?!!!

Like another person on here said, if youre expecting a really heavy album then you will be dissapointed. But i found that the more i listened to the album the more i loved it! If your a straight death metal fan and do not have the patience for a more articulate sound with less screaming and double bass drumming (which i loved about these guys), then dont bother with this one. But if you dig different kinds of music with alot of creativity placed into them with a hard rock flare then you will like this. (not that metal isnt technical and creative, cause i play it).
Some of the good tracks include "Gloriana" which has the best chorus in the whole album, "another adams escape", "From an everyday mountain top", and "the things i found". Pick this one up. Its good to hear if your a metal fan feeling a little laid back one day!

This is a tricky CD to review. Of all Extol's CDs, this one is the strangest one-- and arguably their most creative.

Let me put it this way-- Extol will most likely be forever remembered for Undeceived-- s titanic, technical-death metal release, worthy to be purchased by anyone who likes hard music. Part of the reason for that was the guitar work was so techincal-- fast, heavy, intiricate and, creative. Well, Blueprint Dives is in many ways the sequel to Undeceived, but on a higher, conceptual level. While the guitar work is no longer a poster-child for speedy, tricky licks, and indeed is more stripped down, the music itself is still every bit as creative and edgy. Most every song switches tempos and the riffs are always chaning, few songs use standard song structuring with intro versse chorus, solo at the end, wash and repeat. Not here. The song-writing blue-print metaphorically takes a dive. While Extol isn't playing "sludge" metal and has no metal-core/hardcore elements, it is very similar to Mastodon in the sense that you will always be off base if you're expecting them to just go back to the chorus.

And that is the album's selling point and its struggling point. Because the music is constantly changing, each song takes a little before you're able to get a feel for it. A few songs are catchy right off the bat-- Gloriana and Pearl-- most you will need to listen to once or twice before you see the beauty of their vision. But trust me, the ablum is really quite creative and beautiful and has some of Extol's best song-- Another Adam's Escape, From the Everyday Mountain Top, and The Death Sedative. After giving the album a listen or two, I found that it was quite extreme, but on the compositional level. If you just listen for a good guitar riff or just want some fast drumming, then you are missing what Extol is doing with the whole composition of the song.

Please get this CD and give it a few listens, it's quite good, very extreme (just not in a technical guitar sense) and in many ways genre expanding. There really aren't many CDs like this.

Scandinavian bands always seem to be putting themselves on the map for heavy metal. Norway's Extol have been around for nearly a decade and their music keeps evolving from one great genre to the next. Extol are probably best known for their melodic death metal sounds from the albums 'Burial,' and 'Undeceived,' which is considered by many to be their best release. The Blueprint Dives is their second release on Century Media Records, the first being Synergy.

Longtime Extol vocalist Peter Espevoll once again leads a great performance with vocals. He encorporates a lot of clean vocals, along with other band members. After the recording of Synergy, Extol saw members Ole Borud (guitars, clean vocals) and Peter's brother, Christer, depart for personal reasons. In came guitarists Tor Guilje and Ole Halvard Sveen from Christian black metal act, Lengsel. The album's first single, 'Gloriana' takes listeners back to an older Extol, but then the clean vocals come in and switch things around. Track 3, 'In Reversal' is a fast-paced song that has a catchy ending. 'Pearl' is the softest song on here and shows a mellow side to Extol, with Peter showcasing his melodic singing talent. The track, 'From The Everyday Mountan Top,' is one of my favorite songs on here. Screams and clean singing complement each other very nicely.

This was one of my most anticipated releases in 2005, partially because I found out about Extol when they released Undeceived. I enjoyed Synergy, but the change in style was a little too fast. Since I knew that Extol were bringing in the former guitarists of Lengsel, I thought that they would go back to the death/black metal style of their first two albums. They didn't, but I really do like the new style in which Extol are moving. Their music is still heavy and Peter is not softening up on the band's Christian message displayed in the lyrics. This is very uplifting. Keep up the good work, Extol! It was amazing seeing them live in May of 2005 on their tour supporting this album!

Preconceptions can be a nasty thing to overcome. That's one of the problems I face when I review albums. Since I'm listen to albums after I read a lot reviews on them, I generally know how the rest of the public feels towards a particular album before I review it. If an album is being raved about and I think its terrible, calling it terrible and rating it accordingly can feel a little traitorous. And reviewing an album like "Blueprint" which has received a critical flogging can be difficult too as its easy just to write it off without really giving it a proper listen. Well, I'm trying really hard to be honest about how I feel about albums, so here goes nothing.

Extol's latest album is excellent! It just takes a while to get under your skin and you need to accept that this is not the same Extol as on previous releases. They've truly thrown a curveball here and have turned into an original and far more interesting entity. Take the wacky unconventional creativity and occasional tenderness of Maudlin of the Well, mix in the hardcore edge and mild jazziness of modern Ephel Duath, and tighten it all up somewhat, you'll end up with something resembling this 11 track inspired album. There are extreme variations in mood, vocals and style. There is some impressive musicianship on display, but never approaching the egotistical wankery of progressive metal. It's a much more subtle comfortable approach that relies more on song writing than displays of technical brilliance. It's certainly not an easy listen, but I find it to be a very satisfying one. Tracks like "The Things I Found" and "The Death Sedative" take on an almost epic doom atmosphere and mellow tracks such as "Pearl" and "Lost in Dismay" work beautifully to break things up. Then there's the ripping metal of tracks "Soul Deprived" and "From the Everyday Mountain Top" that kick your [...]. As you can see, this album has some serious variety, but it always sounds like the same band and the same album for that matter.

I must admit, I've never particularly enjoyed the raspy hardcore style of singing so prevalent in modern metal including bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Ephel Duath, but the vocalist here does an awesome job, particularly when contrasting to his perfectly acceptable melodic clean vocals. There are many chorus sections that stay in my head for hours and make me want to listen to the album again.

"The Blueprint Dives" has been a huge surprise for me. One that, like Bethlehem's "Mein Weg" album, will both gain a new audience through its daring creativity, and divide their former fan base by those who are willing to take the ride and those that are not. Personally, I'm disappointed this hasn't done better critically as it's a damn good listen.

Im dissapointed that the band abandoned their stong fan base, but they are progressing steadaly though the world of alternitave rock. Some may like it, and some will despise it. It's not bad, but I just with that they could return to their creative style of melodic metal.

I saw these guys last night at a show here in el paso texas and let me tell you, they will blow you away live. I like this cd because the vocals are excellent. I like the way they combine scream with melody,beautiful. The video that comes with this is kinda weird but very cool. If you ever get the chance to meet these guys, they are very cool.