Walk Through Exits Only

Throughout his career with bands like Pantera and Down, Phil Anselmo has always been at the helm of metal bands that excel at mining maximum heaviness out of a good groove, relying not only on volume and aggression, but also rhythm. On Walk Through Exits Only, the debut from his latest solo project, Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals, the iconic groove metal frontman offers up something altogether more chaotic. While the album has the kind of anger that fans have come to expect from the singer, the music is a fractured assault of lightning-fast riffs and blasts of drums, exploding out as if fired from a blunderbuss to evoke a more scattered version of Pig Destroyer. The change is one that's certain to surprise some listeners who, while prepared for a fair amount of sonic hostility, might not be ready for the unfocused savagery being unleashed here. Though Walk Through Exits Only is definitely a refreshing departure for Anselmo, the band behind him shouldn't be overlooked. Guitarist Marzi Montazeri, drummer José Manuel Gonzalez, and bassist Bennett Bartley provide an ever-changing landscape of punishing metal that mercilessly shoves listeners in every direction without ever letting them settle down and take in everything that's happening around them. As a project, Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals finds the singer reaching for, and grasping, new levels of intensity, so while Walk Through Exits Only might not be in the wheelhouse of a lot of Pantera fans, it's nice to see the frontman expanding his horizons with a little metal mayhem. ~ Gregory Heaney