wyverns keep

I Exist are a band that has certainly experienced a massive amount of popularity over the last 18 months. Of course, if you're Australian you probably are aware of the fact. This is their brand new album, "II: The Broken Passage". Resist Records. Murky kind of green and brown vinyl. As far as I know this is the pre order, more limited pressing, though I can't be sure, I can't find any information anywhere.
One of the first times I posted about these Canberra dirt balls, it was about their first LP, "I: A Turn For The Worse". Back then I think I made it quite clear how 'on the fence' I was about them at the time. If you're unfamiliar with these guys, they play a brand of hardcore that experiments moderately with some obvious sludge influences. Aaron, the bands main song writer and founder has a taste in music that you could fairly describe as that of the metal fan. He's made it obvious of his fondness for everything from Iron Monkey to Acid Witch to Eyehategod. And he's gone on record (like he really needs to though, the influences are somewhat obvious) many times about what he's trying to do with the band. I liked that first album. When I spoke of it though, alot of my post was centred around how I wanted it to be more sludge. While Aaron and co did experiment with it, they just didn't use it enough in my opinion. Too many hardcore structures, not enough riffs. I kind of thought that they would grow out of it. They haven't. If anything, this album panders more to the average Australian hardcore kid. The production is noticeably cleaner, the songs are slicker and more streamlined and there has been an obvious drop in the amount of massive riffs and slower, longer tracks. Apart from one or two great songs (this posts namesake being one of them), this album is a bit of a let down for me. I liked the grit of the first album.
It had to be expected though I suppose. With the bands step up to Resist Records, one would assume that they've got a bigger crowd to please, and maybe a bit more pressure to move the units. I would have thought that their relentless national touring would have been enough to please the hordes though, it's got them this far already.
Artwork is notably more boring with this one too. I loved Glenno's work on the older stuff. This comes across as a little safe, maybe boring and even generic. But perhaps I'm missing the point?I'm kind of hoping that Aaron just has a massive mental breakdown and starts writing huge, dirgy, dirty music, cause this is just too clean.