A Modern Way of Living With the Truth

by

The Exies

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"...and now, for something completely different."

I'll put it here up front. I absolutely hated the album "A Modern Way of Living With The Truth" (MWLWT). But I still gave it four well-deserved stars. Find out why below.

I think that the band finally hit their own existential nail on the head in their fourth effort. And that's why I "hated" it. The overall attitude of the lyrics is self-criticizing, introspective on how life stinks in general, and quite frankly, reflect a story that has been way too similar to my own life (after I suddenly went "crashing down" in 2005 from a brain infection that left me permanently disabled).

Want some examples of their lyrics?

From "Different Than You": "I was so stupid / to think that I was / so different than you"

From "This Is The Sound": "This is the sound / of someone breaking down" (e.g., me in 2005)

From "These Are The Days": "Suddenly, there's beauty in / the way the world / comes crashing down" (again, e.g. me)

And so on, and so forth... you can tell that these lyrics are introspective, contrasting with the ones on their previous effort (Head for the Door aka HFTD), which focused more on criticism of the others in the Exies' lives. The self-effacing "Different Than You" (on MWLWT) is in stark contrast to the almost arrogant "Normal" (from HFTD). Heck, it might even be a direct rebuttal! They'd figured out that their worst enemy is someone who's just like them! Instead of the very upbeat hard rock style of "Normal", "Different Than You" has a very angry, stomping chorus reminiscent of Papa Roach's 2004 "Getting Away With Murder". (No surprise they toured together, I suppose!)

So, why does this album get four stars from me? It's the music. It really is all about the music. Not only are their lyrics full of poetic talent, but their chords and sound are just emotional, if not outright magical. Yes, they bring up very strong emotions in me. But isn't that the point?

Don't get me wrong about their 'new' style, though. It's not just all depressing emotional 'power' metal. The Exies have always had a soul of upbeat hard rock, and there's a few tracks of that in MWLWT as well. The title track, a personal favorite of mine, is a bit introspective lyrically, but embraces that upbeat hard rock style. You'll also see the style in the particularly swaggering "Dose" (a good musical analogy to HFTD's track "F.S.O.S.") and "Lay Your Money Down".

Quoting HFTD's "F.S.O.S.", MWLWT was certainly "f*cking with my head". Again, though, that's the point of it!

Again, four stars to MWLWT!

I'm a fan, but I didn't love this CD nearly as much as I thought I should. I agree with the main reviewer's notion that The Exies are definitely pushing into new territory and are opting for a stronger mix of sounds and techniques with their songs. You get hard rock, soft ballads, and a lot of charged vocals, but as an entirety, the piece still falls a little short. What is meant as variety functions as oover-up for some of the weaker tracks, and I felt like I had to give this one a few good listen-throughs before I could establish a good take on it. We also get a bit of disservice if our copy happens to be the original that left off the powerful "God We Look Good (Goin' Down in Flames)" track. Sure, we can download it digitally, but it's an acknowledgment of a primary rush job that needed a little tweaking too late.