EP review by Lucas Bell
As I was scrolling the new release sites I normally do to see what’s coming out for the week, there was a particularly interesting name that caught my eye. A band from Los Angeles called The Exies. Surely, this cannot be the same band I was obsessed with in the mid 2000s, right?
This can’t be the same band that did songs like ‘Ugly’, ‘Hey You’, ‘My Goddess’, and ‘Slow Drain’, can it? The band broke up in 2010, and I thought we’d never see them back again. But alas, the band has dropped their first music in seventeen years, with the release of the Closure EP. So it has made me super curious, to see if they still are making songs I Iove.
‘For What It’s Worth’ picks The Exies right back up where they left off. The song is an energetic, fun anthemic song about giving everything you can, and hoping it’s enough. The song immediately brought me back to the mid 2000s, when this sound was at its peak. I’m glad it’s back. ‘Spirits High’ is a much more pulled back song in comparison. Definitely has edges of the alternative rock vibe the band is known for. Great song.
‘s.A.D.’ is all in the title. It’s a sad song. Written during Covid, this song was actually the catalyst for what would become ‘Spirits High’, which is super cool. The guitar solo in this song rips too. It’s not all about nailing a million notes. Sometimes the long, drawn or solos as just as good. ‘Euphoria’ brings us right back to the classics Exies rock vibe. This song gives me vibes of ‘Ugly’. Just a rock song that slams.
‘The Hill’ is a song about declining mental health. Lead vocalist Scott Stevens delivers the vocals on this track with his trademark gravelly voice that honestly, I don’t think any other vocalist could deliver and give me the same level of emotion. Phenomenal song. EP closer, ‘Closure’ gives us our final return to the classic Exies sound. Something this band excels at, is their ability to write some incredible choruses. And ‘Closure’ delivers arguably the best chorus on the record. I just want to belt this out singing along live with them. That’s when you know it’s a belter.
For the first music in seventeen years, this is definitely a return to form for The Exies. I was never a big fan of their last album, ‘A Modern Way of Living with the Truth’, but ‘Head for the Door’ and ‘Inertia’ were CDs I absolutely destroyed in my discman during highschool. It’s cool to see they’re back. Hopefully it’s for good.
Rating – 8/10
Favorite tracks
‘For What It’s Worth’
‘Euphora’
