From their record label’s website, “The Book of Life” by EXODUS RISING is a Christian Progressive Heavy Metal album that spans the entire biblical narrative, from Genesis to Revelation. This concept album humanizes ancient stories, presenting them in digestible bites. They draw inspiration from classical composers and blend them with modern progressive metal bands. With that inspiration, EXODUS RISING creates a unique sound. Our music is a melting pot of classical essence and modern metal, embodying the spirit of metal, while being envoys of light, and ministers of heavenly brutality.” The album has 16 songs.

“Overture of Creation” is first. A light rain and narration begin the story, and there are ominous symphonic elements, leading to “Paradise Lost.” For me, the galloping drum beat and positive tones speak more of Power Metal than Progressive Metal, but the mashup is familiar and it works. It begins with Slate’s glass shattering vocals and strong guitar work as well as backing orchestration. “The World We Knew” is another ominous sound, and so far, the band is pushing this fairly hard. The vocals are also a focal point of the album, and why not, when you have a singer who ca easily reach the upper ranges. “Dreamer” features piano and tender vocals, as the title suggests. “I don’t understand these dreams,” he questions. The bass work is excellent in this song also.

“The Prince of Egypt” also has a lot of fanfare, rough riffs, and plenty of symphonic elements. Slate reaches near impossible heights when he screams the familiar line, “let my people go,” and the gravity of the time and situation is not lost on me. “Dirty Bad Haircut” is a bit of a tongue in cheek title on the story of Samson, and the band pulls out all of the stops with some sparkling lead work and background. By contrast, “David and Goliath” has heavier and more ominous tones, and most of us know the story. “My God is with me,” and “he watches over me” he sings. There are some pitchy moments here but overall, it is well presented. “The Wager” is darker in nature, and it features some Middle Eastern sounds.

“Blazing Love” has tender piano notes and a supple background. The song peaks a few times and this is well crafted music. “Lion’s Den” is another familiar bible story. Maybe it’s because my father was a preacher that I know all of these? It has a heavy gallop and the story is ominous. You can almost visualize the hungry lion. “The Birth of Christ” is really the heart of the story, as well as the center theme. Soft piano notes and vocals carry the song forward, with plenty of melody. “Glory be to God” and “peace unto the earth” are common phrases used in the song. “The Temptation” has some really nice keyboard work to go along with the sturdy and energetic riff. This song is some real fire and brimstone type of stuff.

“Death and Resurrection” is another tender song. It’s the realization that the savior has died, and the ensuing reaction from the band, turning to joy with the announcement of the resurrection. “The Fallen” has some heavy and melodic energy to it, along with a mid-tempo pace. The piano work is great as well. The lengthy “Armageddon” closes the album, and as the title suggests, it is all out mayhem. It’s a fitting end to the tale, full of about every sound from the previous songs. 16 songs is an ambitious effort indeed, and add a concept into it also, and that becomes twice as ambitious. They are all very strong at their trades, and although some of the songs do get a little repetitive after that long, I admire the band’s confidence. The story, though linear and well crafted, just gets a little hard to listen to after that much time. Call it the short attention span of a reviewer. Overall however, this was an excellent effort, but I would like to hear the band outside of a concept album.