Hailing from the tough streets of Venice, Los Angeles, Excel were right there at crossover’s inception. Drawing equal influence from Black Flag and Black Sabbath, Excel had a sound that was rowdy enough for punks and heavy enough for metalheads, and they helped clear a music path through which countless bands followed and, like most pioneers, got usurped by those who followed and refined their sound for mass consumption. Yet, their three studio albums stand testament to the band’s prowess and the third and final of those albums finally gets a reissue in the shape of Seeking Refuge.
Often considered Excel’s “lost album”, Seeking Refuge was originally released in 1995 at the height of the grunge and alternative rock revolution and it kind of got lost in the shuffle as the music industry tried to realign itself with the seismic changes underway. The great irony is that Excel, with their intelligent, sociopolitical lyrics, would have slotted into the 1990s just fine. Yet, while much music from the 1990s sounds dated and very much of its time, Seeking Refuge still has a vibrancy and freshness. That’s primarily because Excel were a band in constant motion; from the thrash of their 1987 debut Split Image to the crossover of ‘89s The Joke’s On You they’d been incorporating new elements into their aesthetic and by the time Seeking Refuge was finally released they’d evolved into a rather nice groove/stoner metal hybrid.
Typical of the band’s new tangent is the opening track ‘Unenslaved’. It’s hard and punchy, and that inherent groove that characterised earlier releases is brought very much to the fore. It’s buoyant, but tethered by that stoner influence and the two make for an interesting push/pull dichotomy that will echo throughout the album. H.R. (Bad Brains) makes a guest appearance on ‘Take Your Part Gotta Encourage’ and his vocals wend their way through the song like a river of silk and you can feel his good vibrations emanating from the disc. With Ron Champagne in the producer’s chair, Seeking Refuge places great emphasis on the bottom end; both the drums and bass sound absolutely massive and combine into a wrecking ball swing. The guitar tone is humming like a warm amplifier (and as if the strings have been marinated in honey) and Dan Clements’ vocals are equally treacly, and the result is an album that envelopes the listener in a codeine buzz.
I’m never keen on the airbrushing of history and especially when bands tinker with their own past, but the cover has been updated for this reissue (with the addition of the original band logo) and it is far more befitting of the album and gives it the stately aesthetic it so thoroughly deserves. It’s time for you to unearth this lost treasure.
- Seeking Refuge is released via Southern Lord on 19th July 2024.
- Excel Facebook
Track List:
- Unenslaved
- Hair Like Christ
- Plastic Cracks
- Take Your Part Gotta Encourage
- Drowned Out
- United Naturally In Your Youth
- Riptide
- Overview
- Downpressor
