UNSIGNED AND UNHOLY: SKULL FIST, EXEMPTION, CALIGULA’S HORSE

Unsigned bands continue to kill it! Three of my recent favorites, Skull Fist, Exemption and Caligula’s Horse, are briefly reviewed after the jump.

• I had Skull Fist‘s last record on my desk for months with the intent to write about it, but for some reason I never did. Now I’ve got another chance via reade “jake no,” who sent us the video for their new jam “Commit to Rock” from their brand new record Head of the Pack. As Jake says, it’s “80s heavy metal bliss.” Amen.

• There’s no two ways about the fact that Exemption are influenced by Mastodon — the fuzzy, down-tuned riffs and rolling drum fills say it all — but they’ve also got a major-key Torche kind of thing going on, which I dig. “Blood Heaven,” my favorite song of theirs that’s streaming at their Bandcamp page, has some pretty cool rhythmic play going on as well.
• Caligula’s Horse: Intricate, delicate and well-constructed progressive metal with some shred leanings that’s on the chiller side of the coin; no aggro stuff here and no djent. The Maynard-ish vocals feel a little processed for me at times, but I like the timbre of only-man Sam Vallen’s voice and I love the music.

Thanks to Joe Caperon for sending in Exemption and Caligula’s Horse.

-VN