Exit is the perfect band whose sound can be characterized as a product of \u201cif band x and band y were to have babies:\u201d \u201cband x\u201d in this case being A Perfect Circle, and \u201cband y\u201d being The Cure. To reduce the music of this project \u2013 by this Austin Texas one-man mastermind Benjamin Londa \u2013 is a little simplistic. But that\u2019s the nature of The Blind Alley<\/i>: the influences are glaring, and there isn\u2019t enough in terms of creativity that Londa is able to add in order for the album to divest itself from the sounds that inspired it without falling prey. This definitely is a recipe for a boring album, and although in some ways it is, in other ways it is not. <\/p>\n
As much as the fact that The Blind Alley<\/i> sounds exactly like a confluence between A Perfect Circle and The Cure, it\u2019s comforting in a way \u2013 albeit an almost surreal way. If these two bands were ever to unite and cut an album, this would be it. This disc quenches the thirst of many a Goth music fanatic who might have dared to fantasize such a reunion; and kudos to Londa, too, for not butchering the music. Far from it \u2013 in fact, the music might be a bit rehashed, but it sounds pretty awesome. And the credit for this should go mainly to Londa\u2019s songwriting, which is very much his own, afterall.<\/p>\n
Most of the music on The Blind Alley<\/i> orbits around slow brooding cuts. Londa has an intense singing style, and although he is not nearly as good a vocalist as Maynard James Keenan, it is almost impossible not to compare his vocals on some instances to that of Keenan\u2019s. Still the moody numbers on this album are incredibly melodic and are evocative of some of The Cure\u2019s new stuff, especially from the Bloodflowers<\/i> period, with the heavy presence of jangling acoustic guitars on almost all songs, giving a sort of subtlely warm and cozy feeling. The presence of female backup vocals courtesy of Lisa Cuthbert (\u201cConfessional,\u201d \u201cA Fractured Gesture,\u201d \u201cThe Paris Heights\u201d) and Candice Sanders (\u201cAlicia Marie\u201d) adds an aural touch, resulting in the album\u2019s best cuts.<\/p>\n
As moody as The Blind Alley<\/i> might be \u2013 starting with the album cover itself \u2013 it is not as dark as it wants to be. Similarities to other acts are obvious, but Exit has a far more optimistic sound than either bands. Maybe this is a good thing; at least it shows some spirit of originality in the band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":31564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9194],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-43268","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-exit","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43268"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}