Norwegian act Extol return after a long period of relative silence. The band was formed during the first half of the nineties, and throughout the years, they recorded a couple of EP’s (1999’s Mesmerized and 2001’s Paralysis) and four full lengths: Burial (1998), Undeceived (2000), Synergy (2003) and The Blueprint Dives (2005). The latter, by the way, was nominated in Norway for a Grammy Award. So, indeed it took many years before Peter Espevoll, David Husvik and Ole Børud came on with new material. This time, the whole was created with mixing and mastering assistance by nobody else but top-producer Jens Bogren (think: Amon Amarth, Gwyllion, Opeth, Enslaved, Be’lakor etc.). During the earliest years, they were signed to Endtime Productions (up to the Paralysis-EP), then major Century Media, but recently Extol signed to one of Norway’s most impressive young labels nowadays, Indie Recordings.
This self-called fifth full album (46:30) sounds like the most logical recording this band could have done in twenty years of existence. Those who are familiar with Extol’s experimental avant-garde escapes will immediately recognize the progressive structures courtesy of this band. Every composition is filled with loops and breaks, eccentric aural experimentalism and sonic explorations of different musical dimensions. It’s a symbiosis of heaviness, psychedelics, creativity, artifics and melody. Extol is not quite Death or Thrash Metal, it’s not Prog-Rock or Alternative Extreme Metal either; it’s all of this, but none either. It’s built around unusual patterns that tease and defy the mind; a challenge for ear and mind, a journey through eerie spheres of weirdness and structured exaggeration. Extol probably is the most catchy and pervious Extol-album to date, but it might be their utter piece of Art as well.