The Joke's on You

Excel released a masterpiece. Straight up. This criminally underrated album is overlooked, and it I find it a bit odd that there's only one other review here. Where can I even start? Everything on this album is done extremely well. The guitar, the bass, and my god, the drums. The lyrics, the song's subject matter. The album cover is unique for a thrash/crossover album too. Michael Seiff, whomst did Excel's previous album artwork and ST's Join The Army album cover returns here and it's different from both. It fits the album well. It has this weird distorted static thing behind a Dummy puppet. I sort of feel that this Dummy is a mascot of sorts for the band, besides that cool wizard skeleton. I wonder if he ever got a name.

I wonder why the album is called The Joke's on You, as that was a song on their previous album. I still think it's a cool title, and I obviously like it. It leaves me a bit perplexed as to why bands do this sometimes. Then again, I can't think of a better album title though. Besides the nonexistent criticism I just laid on the album title, I feel that the crossover community was truly blessed with this album.

This album has a slight technical thrash feel, and for crossover that is insanely cool. Tapping The Emotional Void is the best example I have. The song goes through multiple changes, starting off with an acoustic guitar before the drums shift it into a trippy wah pedal segment just before the thrashing begins. Tapping is definitely a highlight on the album, and it's my favorite song. Seeing Insane and I Never Denied are other songs that come to mind for a slight technical thrash feel.

One of the strongest points of this album is the vocal delivery and lyrics. The album's opener, Drive, and the third song Fired (You're) are strong. Dan Clements is an underrated vocalist, this guy delivers. His style compliments the groovy and thrashy parts both. The lyrics on this album are really fun to read. My Thoughts, and the previously mentioned I Never Denied are referential to the band and it gives them a kind of attitude. A cool one though, as I feel many bands don't reference themselves.

As for the instruments, the riffs on this album are sharp and bouncy. Adam Siegel plays well, and each song has a hook in the vocals and guitar work. The Stranger comes to mind, with it's melancholy clean guitar intro. Greg Saenz absolutely crushes it. Drive has a ton of crazy drum solos that never fail to hype me up. Shadow Winds follows, and that one showcases his ability to play to a nasty groove while sneaking in some killer drum fills. Shaun Ross's bass work is good, I feel like their aren't enough moments for it to shine, as their first album Split Image gave him a lot of moments to do a bass solo. I Never Denied's intro comes to mind as a standout moment.


Yeah, everything on this album is beautiful. I'm not really sure how to end these reviews but if you're a fan of Suicidal Tendencies, or DRI or any crossover band ever, please go listen to this one. I'm surprised that the debut album is getting more attention here. It's another solid release and I feel this album is the crossover album of all time. I might even get a tattoo of the dummy on the album cover. That's how good it is.

The second Excel album follows more or less the same characteristics of their first one, “Split Image”. Here the production is a bit better, especially in the weak point of their debut: the drums sounds. Now everything is more clear in the production. “Drive” is almost embarrassing for the punk influences, especially during the refrain, with following speed restarts during the verses.

The vocals are the same ones in their first album: childish and total crossover. As I said in the Split Image review, I wanted them to be more angry and less crossover but they have just one tonality in lots of parts and that’s a bit stressing for a person like me that surely doesn’t worship this kind of sonorities. The songs also are very similar and it’s hard to find some stand out ones here. It’s better to talk about some stand out moments.

The faster “Fire (You Are)” is not bad, with good tempo changes during the verse. Finally we can find a more mature song like “Tapping Into the Emotional World”: this is completely different from the other ones. It’s slower, heavier with good arpeggios at the beginning and remarkable guitars riffage while it’s going on, in a crescendo of intensity, followed by great solos too. We can find again the groove in an another different song like “Affection Blends With Resentment” where the band shows his abilities in creating doom moments too.

Even during the faster songs like “Seaing Insane” or “My Thoughts” we can find some less impulsive sections with always excellent solos (they are one of the best things here) and thrash patterns. The bass sound has always an important role in the band’s music and we can find his pulsating parts in most of the breaks during a song. Overall, this is a quite good piece of crossover/thrash metal that, without being spectacular, is worthy a listen. This one is a bit better than their debut, especially in the production but don’t expect musical changes.