Norway’s Extol seemed to be that rare Christian metal band that were saved the usual ridicule and cries of “Get God out of my metal!” from knuckle dragging satanic metal heads when they surfaced in the late 90s. Whether it is because like thrashers Believer before them, they played a ‘real’ brand of metal (a sort of technical death/black metal at the time) rather than anything core related, or being from Norway excluded them from such folly, the band wowed all faiths of metal heads with their form of black-ish extreme Christian music. Even when the band got even more progressive with 2005’s The Blueprint Dives, the band still seemed criticism proof. But then the band broke up and seemingly took Christian metal’s respectability with them.

In the 8 years since, Christian metal has been lambasted and frowned upon due to a saturation of deathcore/hardcore/post rock screamo and others of its ilk. Some of it good, some of it bad, but with a few exceptions, it all seemed pigeonholed into a pretty cornered core genre. But in a Lazarus-like resurrection, the core members and founders of Extol have returned to give Christan metal a savior, a savior not solely based on Christian lyrics or themes, but based on a breathtaking modern metal album that’s a fluid, progressive apex of modern music and as awe inspiring as the second coming itself.

Let’s get one thing out of the way – Extol is Christian and the album is full of Christian themes and such. But not preachy, warbly, sermon filled bullshit – but a deep, resonating faith filled allegory for all things good, salvation filled and introspective. And if you let those beliefs deter you from Extol, then you are simply losing out on one of the most evocative and elegantly progressive metal albums of the last few years and one of the most successful reunions of recent memory.

Musically, the band seems to have continued the style found on The Blueprint Dives, but carefully injected slivers of all of the bands releases and styles. At its heart, Extol is an experimental, progressive melodic death metal record. I hear lots of Opeth due to the light/dark textures and delicate keys, as well as latter Death in some of the technical aspects, and I’m also reminded of Disillusion‘s Back to Times of Splendor by the structure’s often dextrous but fluid compositions. There might be just a dash of very light Meshuggah influences also due to some of the shifting, staggering riffs (“Wastelands”) of Ole Berud, but its ever so light. And to my surprise I also hear a more contracted version of Between the Buried and Me in the way the band shift from supine clean moments to lurchy heft (“Open the Gates”). And like BTBAM, Extol appear to have ample respect for Queen, due to some of Peter Espevoll’s absolutely stunning clean vocals, though for you ‘true’ metal heads, he has a formidable blackened rasp for most of the time.

With ten songs and right at the 45 minute sweet spot, the tracks never linger or drag lying in that perfect 4-5 minute mark, and each have some moment of glorious clarity and musical epiphany. The album’s killer first single “A Gift Beyond Human Reach” and its addictive, slithering main riff gives a nice glimpse of the album’s totality, highlighting the more progressive, lurching riffage, but littered with shimmering melodies and clean vocals. There is a balance that shifts between the more elegant, introspective side (“Dawn of Redemption”), though it’s mingled and fleeting with more jarring, aggressive numbers (“Betrayal”, “Wastelands”, “Ministers”) but when they come together such as the title track, “Faltering Moments” and glorious closer “Unveiling the Obscure”, it’s utterly awe inspiring .

Facedown Records needed this. Christian metal needed this. Metal fans needed this. Extol just exudes a redemptive musical and spiritual aura you can’t ignore, regardless of faith. It’s that undefinable sense of contemplation and inner good that we all possess, and Extol have channeled that into modern heavy metal music. And while the band’s message might be Christian, the actual music surpasses faiths and genres and simply moves you with progressive, elegant brilliance.

[Visit the band's website]

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