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Exodus (2013) is the third full-length album by Slovakian progressively inclined power metal act Signum Regis. It is a concept album about the Israelites who were enslaved in ancient Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus, from which the album evidently takes its name. Exodus represents something of a different Signum Regis compared to the band who recorded their previous releases Signum Regis (2008) and The Eyes of Power (2010), which featured six member strong line-ups of musicians in the typical sort of roles for a European style power metal release. The core line-up of the band has been cut in half on Exodus, now consisting of founding bassist Ronnie König, guitarist Filip Koluš and new drummer Jaro Jancula. All other members from The Eyes of Power still appear on the album, including lead vocalist Göran Edman, but are distinctly credited as guest performers in the press release that accompanied my promo copy of the album.
I'm not sure what exactly led the other instrumentalists of Signum Regis to go from full membership to guest roles for Exodus, but there is an easy explanation for the vocalist situation; Signum Regis wanted Exodus to be an album which had more than one vocalist on it. They ended up with nine, including Lance King (ex-Pyramaze), Matt Smith (Theocracy), Daísa Munhoz (Vandroya) and Michael Vescera (Obsession). I wouldn't call Exodus a metal opera though since although the album is conceptual the singers take on a song on their own without any vocal interplay between characters. I can't say that I am familiar with all the people singing on this album. I can tell you that Daísa Munhoz sings Song of Deliverance but this is the easy one; she's the only female on the album. I can also tell you it's Lance King singing the album's title track. But beyond that I'm afraid I'm not sure who sings what either due to a total lack of experience with their voices or in some cases not enough exposure to instantly recognise them. Suffice to say that it's a mixed bag of clean singing styles from semi-aggressive, clear and melodic, and quite high singing.
The music lives up to its branding. Exodus consists mostly of power metal songs with on and off elements of progressive metal, although they kick the album off with a nice instrumental called On The Nile which is kind of folksy, featuring a relaxing backing of running water, after which things become business as usual, switching vocalist for each track. The songs themselves herein are mostly melodic power metal pieces with just some light progressive elements here and there. When they progressive side of the band really comes out in does so in songs which are best considered as progressive metal first and foremost, one of those being Let Us Go! which also has a bit of a thrash metal edge to the riffs. The songs are generally solid across the board although I've found myself unable to appreciate the first full song Enslaved quite to the same level as the others. I'm not sure who sung this one but the voice is one of the semi-aggressive types, that is to say the vocals sound like they belong more in a traditional metal song or at least a heavy power metal Grave Digger type rather than the full on melodic power metal that the song actually is. I like the vocalist. I like the music. But together there is an evident incompatibility. Fortunately this isn't an issue which is repeated.
The final track which is actually a cover of Helloween's Sole Survivor from the Master of the Rings (1994) album. Never a favourite of mine from the German power metal pioneers to begin with, Signum Regis' version doesn't really do much for me either. I'm sure there's a reason for covering this one as a non-bonus track on a concept album, but it escapes me what it could be. It's a serious downturn for the album though including it.
I seem to have focused too much on the negative in this review, especially for an album which is at the end of the day a good one, but the thing is there are certain aspects of Exodus I simply find frustrating. Before I move onto this I will point out that the best song for me from the main album is Song of Deliverance, which is also the longest. Daísa Munhoz may be the only female singer to guest on Exodus but the band seem to have made up for that by letting her sing the best song.
Or did they? You see this is where those frustrations with Exodus come into play; it's bonus track. The song in question is called Mountain of God and it only appears on the CD version. While not a problem for the connoisseur of physical media in this digital age, it does confuse me why Signum Regis would cut one of the more creative tracks off from fans who prefer other formats, including digital. Signum Regis adds a symphonic element to their sound here as well as a very slight folk vibe to the chorus delivery, along with generally stronger use of progressive elements and a mix of heavy and power metal riffs. But of course as it is a bonus track no matter how good it is I can't give it any bearing on the score this review will give Exodus.
Exodus is a good album overall, especially if you like the genre, as I do. But with that in mind the more power metal albums I hear the more I find that releases I may have regarded higher earlier in my reviewing career no longer manage to impress me so much, and Exodus is one of those albums. It simply doesn't do enough to not be, in all honesty, completely skippable. The host of guest vocals talents are all well and good but albums like this are a dime a dozen these days. Maybe not with all the singers but even that is becoming more common. I'm going to give it a 'good album' tier rating because there isn't that much outwardly wrong with Exodus aside from issues highlighted in a couple of songs, but it has a couple of steps it needed to take to be worth your time for more than the occasional spin.
71/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/signum-regis-exodus-t3222.html)