1. Hot Sauce
2. Tiempo Cura. Tiempo Mata
3. Helion Ardor
4. Honey Glazed Lucifer
5. Chunderpuss
6. Josephina
7. Holy Hand Grenade
8. Bear foot
9. Swing Darling
10. 36 Dead Hookers
11. Pissing On The Third Rail
In a music industry so dominated by ‘who you know’ or ‘how much you’re willing to pay’ to get your band ahead of the rest just for that slim as hell chance at all-out ‘rock n roll glory’, it’s so goddamn refreshing to hear something so well produced by three young dudes who aren’t even old enough to drink legally. Exemption is the closest thing I have ever heard to Led Zeppelin, Cream and Soundgarden tied into one in all my years of music listening. And so I ask myself, “How can they not even be twenty-one and be this good?”
With Tom on vocals, bass & piano, Nicky on guitars, anchored down by Ray on drums, accordion and Ocarina, the album’s opener ‘Hot Sauce’ sounds like something Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Page and Ginger Baker may have produced in their own side project. The spine-breaking riff used in the latter part of the song with Tom’s prophetic desperate screams makes you think that quite possibly you’ve stumbled onto the bastard children of The Beatles.
Track numero deuce ‘Tiempo Cura, Tiempo Mata’ has that old Van Halen charm in its solidly grooving, eclectic opener that goes into a full face-kicking jam. We are only met with more retro feel with track three’s sprawling Hendrix-esque “Hellion Ardor” and then spun around one-hundred eighty degrees with the thrashing ‘Honey Glazed Lucifer’. With rich, Helmet-sounding vocals and an inspired, speeding drum assault, it’s almost scary to think how good these youngsters would sound if they actually were allowed into a pro studio with a name producer attached to their uncanny songwriting prowess.
The next set of tracks ‘Chunderpuss’, ‘Josephina’ and ‘Holy Hand Grenade’ give you more than you bargained for with more blues/metal fused into the landscape then one can imagine for only a three piece group, bordering on the likes of sonic bravado that even Jack White himself would beam proudly at. Rounding out with the distorted and hyper-fuzzed out ‘Bear Foot’ and ‘Swing Darling’, it’s safe to say that this band is not catering to the formulaic rules that most heavy music acts adhere too and that’s why I think they are so compelling.
Visit Exemption on MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/exemption
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