Exoterik are one of a plethora of bands attempting to couple heavy rock tunes with melodic vocals and orchestration. Their latest EP release ‘Omega Point’ proves that it does take some special song-writing and arranging to pull it off, and they just fall short, but they’re not far off.
The first and strongest track on the EP is ‘Raping the Reverie’ which is a fairly straightforward rocker with some haunting vocals provided by Anneka Latta. The bridge section is cool with a near progressive sounding rhythm. There’s no doubt here that the band is into some heavy shit and here lies the band's main weakness – the music is pretty heavy in places with the gritty guitars of Tom Fay and syncopated drumming of Steve Riley. It just seems like that Anneka’s voice needs more prominence - the music underlying is a little too overpowering for her smooth voice – she’s good but no Any Lee. Still, it’s a great track.
'Seven' has a mighty hook at the end, perhaps illustrating the band wanting to thrash out a little more. ‘Psuedo Ego’ goes someway to demonstrate Tom’s experimentation with guitar effects and creates an eerie atmosphere. Unfortunately the vocals are not particularly remarkable so the mood is lost. Easily the best track on the EP is ‘Everything Visible Is Empty’ where Anneka’s voice is doubled in a huge stomping chorus but the vocals in final track ‘Breakdown' are underplayed.
Overall, Exoterik's EP is a good and, on occasion, brilliant one. No doubt live they are a force to be reckoned with, but recording-wise, they don’t quite make the ‘A’ grade required. If they pull together and rethink the way they approach things, perhaps using more vocal effects and doubling, maybe with Tom and bass player Dave Parry lending a hand on backing vocals, they may turn a good record into a truly great one.
