You ever feel like your brain just needs a complete shutdown? A total reboot? Just 5 minutes to shut the FUCK up? I feel that shit all the time. Between the ADHD and the I’m sure untold amounts of other undiagnosed issues in my head, there’s rarely a moment’s peace where I can just, like, simply exist.
Which is why musically, sometimes, I just need something super simple – something that really requires little to no analyzation so I can stare into the middle distance and disassociate for a lil bit, or just bang my head without having to think too much about it. If I can tune out while still passively letting out some of the aggression or frustration built up from just generally being alive in the world? Hell yeah, brother. Sign me up.
Enter the UK’s Cage Fight – and sure, you may be thinking to yourself, “I dunno man, I’m not really sure saying a band requires little thought is actually, like, a compliment?” But I promise you, I mean this with the utmost respect and admiration. Cage Fight is one of those band that, when asked, you can genuinely just categorize them as “Metal,” and you really don’t have to elaborate any further. It’s really all you need to know, and I honestly think that’s a beautiful thing.
If you NEED to break it down, Exuvia has a little dash of everything here to please just about everyone. The first proper track, “Oxygen,” begins life sounding like it was lifted straight out of Arch Enemy‘s Wages of Sin album, with militant, thrashy guitars straight out of the Amott playbook. But instead of playing out like a straight-up mimic, the band blends in some bombastic, catchy-as-all-hell UK Metalcore elements throughout the track ala Bleed from Within or Malevolence to add a little spice to the bag, making for an aggressive, if not pleasingly melodic start that gets the blood pumping in short order. Vocalist Rachel Aspe throws everything she’s got into the mix, with a nice range of raspy, venomous harsh vocals – and a nice balance of airy cleans that come together nicely to deliver an effective and engaging listen. Throw in a good n’ burly breakdown to close out the track, and we’ve got the makings of something super fun here.
And make no mistake, Cage Fight can bring the punishment. “Pig” is a groovy, Metallic Hardcore anthem that bounces along at the kind of pace that easily inspires all sorts of pit antics – from swingy two-stepping, to more punishing crowd killing, to a good ol’ crowd-pleasing pogo. There’s even some appropriate pig squeals! Lending the track a sort of Despised Icon-esque Death/Hardcore vibe that tickles my brain aplenty – a feeling that only gets amplified on the super fun, wholly unserious “Pick Your Fighter,” featuring the squealy talents of Benighted‘s Julien Truchan on guest vocal duty. It’s a quick-hitter that minces no words about it’s intent of dealing out as much punishment in as little amount of time as possible. If you can believe it, “The Hammer Crush” pulls a similar stunt, taking less than three minutes of your time to just be fun, heavy and bouncy, featuring perhaps the album’s most fun and raucous breakdown just to really hammer the point home (see what I did there? Again, I should stress that this is not highbrow shit here. It’s just fun).
There’s also a few tracks where I stop and go “Devildriver… dat you?” only lending further to the stance that Cage Fight is just simply a Metal band (I’d even argue at this point they’re Devildriver-ing better than Devildriver themselves?). “Deathstalker,” title track “Exuvia” and the super fun and excellent “IHYG (I Hate Your Guts)” really fit the bill – a little thrashy, a little groovy, a little metalcore-y (if you squint), but honestly just quality, no frills Metal that satisfies you on a base level. The kinds of tracks that really just tap into your most basic metal needs in the best way. Aspe’s cleans on the title track are great, bringing to mind a little bit of Kittie‘s Morgan Lander (COMPLETE side note, Lander ‘s new gothy darkwave project Winterlvst with Blackguard’s Justine Ethier and Jonathan L Leduc just recently released a fuckin EXCELLENT album called Awkakening that I HIGHLY recommend. Anywayyyyyyy) and adds some really impressive and enjoyable depth to her performance.
I genuinely have nothing bad to say about Exuvia – it’s a super solid release that, honestly, wasn’t really even on my radar, but I’m really glad I had a go! It’s no bullshit, no pretense, just straight in-your-face heat that should put a smile on anyone’s face. Don’t think too hard about it, just give ‘er a rip and enjoy the ride.
