As I said last April in my review of Zeicrydeus’ La grande hérésie, I am fairly new to the work of Canadian guitar superstar, Phil Tougas. In fact, that album served as my proper introduction to the man and his vast universe of metallic manifestations. I promised I would explore his catalog further, and in the words of trash TV god Maury Povich, “The lie detector determined THAT was a lie.” What can I say, folks? Sometimes life gets in the way of my heavy metal excursions. So when I caught wind that, less than a year since dropping one of the most original black metal albums in recent memory, Tougas was back with a new entity who expanded upon the lore of Zeicrydeus, I figured, “Why not pick up where we left off?”
The name of this latest outfit (as if Tougas didn’t already have enough on his plate) is Exxûl: A five-piece vehicle featuring some of the most respected figures in the Canadian metal underground. Joining Tougas (or as he’s known here, Defender) are fellow Chthe’ilist bandmates Sentinel (Antoine Daigneault) on bass and Ethereal Hammer (Guyot Begin-Benoit) on drums, as well as keyboardist Spectre (François Bilodeau) and frontman Stargazer (Thomas Karam). If the pseudonyms didn’t give it away, Exxûl are quite the mystical act, conjuring an air of esoteric brilliance into every corner of their debut full length, Sealed Into None.
If you were to stop reading right now, and wanted me to surmise this album in one sentence, it’s this: Imagine if The Warning era Queensrÿche made a doom album. If that sentence alone doesn’t make you want to exit this window and check out this album immediately, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, so if for some reason you’re not sold yet, allow me to expand further. While Sealed Into None is an epic doom album at heart, it never once falls into the usual trappings of such an affair. Whereas many acts in this vein come off as bloated or monotonous by track 3 or 4, Exxûl stand a cut above, emboldening their vast soundscape of lumbering riffs and melodramatic execution with soaring melodies, virtuosic soloing, and a flash of USPM valiance.
What’s most impressive is how the band manages to do all this over the course of four glorified suites. Save for the synth intro (“Bells of the Exxûl”), every song on here surpasses the 8 minute mark, which is usually a red flag. In this case, the band leaves us begging for more. Whether it be an ambitious, multi-faceted epic like “Blighted Deity”, the somberly crushing “Walls of Endless Darkness”, the bloodthirstily powerful “Labyrinthine Fate”, or OTT power-doom pomp-a-rama of “The Screaming Tower”, every song on here offers its own distinct, classic metal flair, and gives us a glimpse (even if brief) of this gloriously strange and unusual being that is Exxûl.
While every musician on here delivers their A game, it’s frontman Stargazer who steals the show, sounding like a spot-on clone of Geoff Tate circa 1984. His range, power, and vibrato is simply superhuman, to the point where I think I can safely brand him as thee best voice in metal today. Put all these qualities together, and you’ve got an opus that stands as the first serious contender for album of the year…and it’s only January. I look forward to giving Sealed Into None many more listens in the days and weeks to follow, unlocking new expanses of metallic terrain with each subsequent dive.
10 out of 10
Label: Productions TSO
Genre: Epic Doom Metal
For fans of: Candlemass, Queensrÿche, Fates Warning