Related artists: Back When, In Loving Memory, Eyes Of Verotika, Caught In The Fall, Vanhelsing, Words Not Spoken, Eclipse Of Eden, Across Tundras, The Spirit Of Versailles, Transpire and The Attica Underground.
Country: Sioux Falls, South Dakota USA
Years Active: 2000-2003
Song: "Black Hair. Black Eyes."
Album: "We are the Architects of Desire"
Year: 2001
For fans of: Buried Inside, Loftus, Craneo, In Loving Memory, .Gif From God, Back When, Spires, Gray Ghost, Loma Prieta, Joshua Fit For Battle, Beau Navire, Crestfallen, Converge, Oktober Skyline, The Ultimate Screamo Band, United Nations, Across Tundras, Disappearer, Neurosis, Caust, Truman, Mara'akate, Neil Perry, Litany For The Whale, Towers, Jeromes Dream and Isis aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Forge Again Records / Hawthorne Street Records / Init Records / 605 Recordings
This post's artist is from the November 2015 Mix. This is track #2.
This post's artist is from the November 2015 Mix. This is track #2.
Okay...are you ready? ARE YOU FUCKING READY!?!?!?! Hot damn EXAMINATION OF THE... was the shit. Sharing core members with one of my other favourite bands, Back When (as well as Eyes Of Verotika, Caught In The Fall and The Spirit Of Versailles), they were destined to be posted here sooner or later...I was just waiting for the readership. If you like emo-violence, grindcore, screamo - even post-hardcore and post-metal, this doppleganger went through a shift that will satiate your appetite for each of those genres. Basically what happened was EXAM formed and recorded some emo-violence during 2000-2001. In 2002 they expanded their sound without straying too far from the crazy, early material. In 2003 there was a substantial shift to post-everything, most likely due to extreme Neurosis-itus. The first split 7" with In Loving Memory was a wee bit unorganized and the final LP was overthought - aka they were okay in my books, but that middle material? Holy fuck. Let's go.
I'll be upfront here, 2001's 'We are the Architects of Desire' is a fucking emo-violence masterpiece. Honestly this is an undiscovered gem of amazingness. By the time "Each Lust in Prada" hits the speakers you will probably already be floored and this little ditty will send you straight to the grave. Insane speeds are calculated perfectly with catchy rhythms (albeit a little subtle) which give the chaos some organic grounding but allows the tips to grow completely wild. Bands like Loftus and .Gif From God are excellent comparisons as they both boast controlled screamy vocals, lightning speed and killer breakdowns. "Black Hair. Black Eyes." is my personal favourite from this album as it rolls in with some Neil Perry noodling before laying waste to the speakers at 1:05. The breakdown at 1:14 sells this as one of the best songs I've ever heard. Holy fuck I'm really excited right now. Said breakdown orbits full circle at 1:40 but is pulling some extra weight and it crashes to the ground by the song's 2:25 close. "The Incision and Sweet Taste of Uncertainty" could have been recorded during the same session as Mara'akate's early work when they were mad emo-violence. "Lady Red" closes out the record in typical EXAM fashion with their Back When lineage pretty much reflecting what was done on 'Swords Against the Father' aka my #1 EP of all time.
2002's 'Lady in the Radiator' showed a progression that housed the final heavy/chaotic stuff from the band. The opener "Lelani Ulalume (The Making Prosaic) Part 1" rams the older, screamy style down your throat, but simultaneously does so whilst showing you a very precise mathematical equation. The shifts and ambiance added to the chaos is the stepping stone that the band used to transition into their final record, of which I'm not the fondest. Sticking with the release at hand, the aforementioned "Lelani Ulalume (The Making Prosaic) Part 1" plows through an intense opening and closing that are bridged with a nice, Back When-ish jammy interlude that'll make you feel at least a little bit crazy. This is a great song. The next song "We Are, In Fact, So Ripe" dabbles primarily in EXAMINATION OF THE...'s earlier work with emo-violence and grindcore and does so in fantastic fashion. For this release I think comparisons to Litany For The Whale and later Mara'akate would be quite apt.
'The Whitest of Elephants' made a shift almost identical to the path that Back When was taking at about the same time, post-'We Sang as Ghosts', which wasn't the one I was hoping for, but the last thing any band should do is try to appease anyone other than themselves. The shift was most certainly brought about by the band's love of post-metal sludge aka Neurosis, including the doomy singing that I don't care for one bit. That being said, songs such as "Kicking a Dead Horse Aside" go a full two minutes of heavier, screamy hardcore/post-metal with an emphasis on being fucking massive. After a long buildup (that sounds a lot like Buried Inside meets Isis) it climaxes with "your womb is a graveyard!" until the six-minute mark when shits gets heavy again and reminds me of Spires and Back When all the way up to the end, which stretches itself out to 10:26. "To Anacreon, in Heaven" is another standout from the EP that is worth mentioning. It is only 4:41 in length and acts as a condensed version of the first song, hitting all the right notes that result in a cumulative effect that washes over the listener and creates a cacophonous euphoria. Shit goes ballistic first at 51 seconds in it doesn't really let up until near the end of the song. I'd put this song on par with Back When's "Fraud of Scribes" or even KEN Mode as its unrelenting use of pounding breakdowns harness deafening force rather than lightning speed.
So, to recap, download the discography I've posted here and improve your life.
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2001 - We are the Architects of Desire cd/12"LP
2001 - In Loving Memory split 7"EP
2002 - Lady in the Radiator cd/12"EP
2003 - The Whitest of Elephants cdLP
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Black Hair. Black Eyes" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Each Lust in Prada" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "A Feeling is Always/Never" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "She's No Stitch" (from 'In Loving Memory' split)
(2002) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "We Are, In Fact, So Ripe" (from 'The Lady in the Radiator')
(2002) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Lelani Ulalume (The Making Prosaic) Part 1" (from 'The Lady in the Radiator')
(2003) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Kicking a Dead Horse Aside" (from 'The Whitest of Elephants')
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(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Black Hair. Black Eyes" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Each Lust in Prada" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "A Feeling is Always/Never" (from 'We are the Architects of Desire')
(2001) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "She's No Stitch" (from 'In Loving Memory' split)
(2002) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "We Are, In Fact, So Ripe" (from 'The Lady in the Radiator')
(2002) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Lelani Ulalume (The Making Prosaic) Part 1" (from 'The Lady in the Radiator')
(2003) EXAMINATION OF THE... - "Kicking a Dead Horse Aside" (from 'The Whitest of Elephants')
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EXAMINATION OF THE... out of print mp3 discography download / additional links
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looking for the song by them with the EYES WIDE SHUT movie sample
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