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"Brutal Days" is the latest release of the band Excision that is more-or-less a one-man project of Jeff from Kekal. This album is a re-release of their cassette only demos "Manipulation of Response" ('97) and "The Quality of Mankind" ('98). This is a crazy mix of death metal, industrial noise, and a lot of experimental raging that is hard to pigeonhole. The vocals range from ultra-low death growls to extremely distorted industrial vocals, to some spoken vocals. There is a lot of blasting going on here, but unfortunately it's drum machine material. The overall feel is somewhat similar to Kekal at times, but more chaotic. The opening song "Morality in Question" is a killer song that is just oozing with intensity. Musically, this song reminds me of Kekal, but the vocals are some of those ultra-low death growls. At one point he does this cool growls that almost sounds like a big castle door creaking. You have to hear it to understand. Another cool part is in the middle of "Exiled to Nowhereland". There is some haunting ambient music with talking in the background. Doesn't sound like much, but it sounds perfect in contrast to the rest of the song.
I like most of this disc, but the first five songs are the best. "The Quality of Mankind (edit)" comes in at number six and it is just plain garbage. Sounds like they were just messing around or something. The second half of the album has more of an industrial feel than death metal. The standout being "Technological Ignorance".
The majority of the topics center around the need for a stronger stance on morality and our need for God. This is a fairly enjoyable listen and should hold fans over until the release of their new album in late 2002, which is supposed to be quite a drastic style change. You can pick up this disc at www.blastbeats.com. (Review by Matt)
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