Alien Alright’s ‘The Exodus Is Here’ is ‘exciting progressive rock’
Written by James Wall
Alien Alright
The Exodus Is Here
“The Exodus Is Here” isn’t quite the extraterrestrial rock that you’d expect from the album’s title and the artist’s name; however, that doesn’t mean it isn’t strange. If Faith No More had existed in the ’70s, they would’ve produced music not too far off (and definitely far out) like Alright does here. For example, the opening cut “Vintage Music” is all over the map, switching from headbanging metal to English art rock to pseudo-rapping before Alright kicks into Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” WTF? Indeed.
But there is a method to the madness here. Alright is looking back to the days when rock had no rigid boundaries, an attitude only a few contemporaries such as System of a Down and Radiohead share. However, Alright’s mixed bag of stylistic detours isn’t some high-brow statement; you can tell that he’s just cutting loose, enjoying the creative freedoms of being your only bandmate and not having a record label to push you around. The result is exciting progressive hard rock with a definite blues base (check out “Underdog Appeal,” “Unsigned and Proud,” and “Record Store Blues”).
