A more tempered approach
We first heard Reading five piece Exit Ten back in 2006 and we became fans of their anthemic, melodic metal from the off. It's great to report that they are still turning out huge, satisfying powerhouse tracks you can lose yourself in. Heavy riffs meld beautifully with a super-catchy tunes; the guitars produce some nicely fiddly and spine-tingling riffs under Ryan Redman's powerful vocal delivery and as always he brings the goods, making you want to sing along with him at full volume.
Their sound is still appealing, however on this new album they seem to have mellowed somewhat, cutting back on the metal tones and introducing quieter moments on tracks like 'Lion' and 'Smoke' so that overall they are starting to bring to mind big name rockers like Pearl Jam and Incubus. Of course, it's great that they've evolved and this shift has made their sound far more accessible, however it has also made their tunes feel less instant and urgent.
While the album is solid and contains many memorable tracks, it's a more temperate approach, which seems to have involved cutting out the rough edges and going for a mother more even sound. This is something that fans may find takes a little getting used to. That said, they do make up for this in other areas; the album is packed with anthems, uplifting and multi layered songs with a chunky backbone of riffs. There are some interesting additions too, including strings ('Suggest A Path') and a smattering of piano; Exit Ten always had a tendency toward a certain degree of experimentation in their sound so it seems a natural progression to introduce these elements.
Exit Ten have returned with a decent but not spectacular second album, the move away from the metalcore into a more standard rock sound could mean make or break for them, let's hope while they aim at picking up new listeners they can retain their old fan base.