I never really understood all the fuss behind Sepultura’s Chaos A.D.. Aside from the fact that it managed to get released during the great metallic drought of the mid 90s, it always just seemed like the perfect lesson in how to make groovy, mid-paced metal that is easy on the ears. However, there are tons of bands that would disagree with my critical view of everything Max Cavalera touched from 1993 to 2004, and Inexacta sound like they are one of them.

Previous Trick Us is the self-produced debut from Inexacta, and in every aspect (save for the clean production), it shows. If it wasn’t for the crisp drums, crunchy guitars, and pulsing bass, this would be quite a chore to digest. Instead, (thanks largely to the mixing skills of Christian Rodriguez) the end result is little more than a tasteless chewing exercise. Soulfly, Chimaira, and Sepultura all seem like they have significantly influenced the band, but the combination of said influences makes for something that sounds like a watered down mess of each. All ten of Inexacta’s songs are easy to grasp after a few listens, and average out to be about four minutes long. The unfortunate thing about that is, they all seem to be longer than what the screen says. Chugging along at a mid-pace, there were only a few riffs that branch out of the low-end chromatic box that seems to be a trap for guitarists Alberto Cabezas and Carlos Martínez. Cabezas is listed as the lead guitarist, but there are only a few songs where something resembling a solo is found. Much more often than not, the guitarists are just doubling each other’s chugging, bouncy riffs. Vocally, Martínez sounds like he is trying his best, but I just can’t help but get the feeling his singing was forced. It sounds like if he had a sore throat, or something preventing him from really pushing his gruff shouts as far as they could go. The drums are (relatively) more impressive than the guitars and vocals but it is still quite rare to hear a thrash beat or even rolling double bass thrown in when there is so much monotonous chugging to pound along to.

Breathing Deception is a perfect microcosm of the whole album. A short intro that builds up the main riff, followed by everyone joining in after the 2nd measure or so. This riff soon gives way to another (slightly faster) riff that also has to be quickly built up, only to quickly return to the first boring intro riff to give the vocalist something to scream over. This is repeated until the listener is treated with a clean guitar break at the halfway mark, which will soon give way to a variation of the main riff. This song is actually one of the chosen few to feature a wah-drenched solo that sounds akin to a lesser version of Kirk Hammet. I could go on to describe the other songs, but they pretty much have the same problem. There are too many moments where the band has to build up the riffs, instead of keeping the listeners attention by rapidly changing between song sections. It’s a real energy killer.

Unfortunately, it just sounds like Inexacta are going through the motions on every song here, doing nothing to stand out, and certainly nothing impressive enough to make you search for more. This is their first effort, and they just might have the ability to turn EVERYTHING up a few notches to produce a more impressive and worthwhile work. As for now, they just sound like another band caught in Soulfly’s shadow.

Note: below is the video for "From Right 2 Wrong". In time the video may become outdated and fail to play.