LIVE AT SAINT VITUS

Ex Eye's sole album has become one of my all-time favourite instrumental releases in the last year or so - even after I put off listening to it or three years because I knew I'd love it, somehow it exceeded my expectations. The combination of dizzying sax and Liturgy-style post-metal is undeniably a recipe to get me out of my seat multiple times, but they piece it together with genuinely good riffs and songwriting. These songs would still be awesome if they were performed by a middling band, let a lone some of the best musicians on the planet. This rendition is hardly essential but it's definitely cool to hear, particularly given how much the album relies on interplay between the musicians. It's fascinating to see just how at home Colin Stetson sounds in a metal band, considering he's not really done much in the genre in the past. The production here isn't quite up to par for a live album though and that can hurt it in the louder sections, but it's still a great performance of one of the most important metal albums of the 2010s.

7.7 (1st listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction