1. Bomb Shelter 
2. Exist 
3. Amnesia Ln. 
4. Marana 
5. Failure On Repeat 
6. Immaculate Misconception 
7. Final Words For An Unknown Friend 
8. Angels 
9. Awake 
10. So Let It Rain

Antagonist have returned with 'Exist', their sophomore release and debut for Prosthetic Records. Having made the move from a tiny label like Dwell to the indie powerhouse that is Prosthetic is a good sign, and with Exist, the band are out to prove that they deserved it.

The opening track 'Bomb Shelter' kicks things off with a nod to the likes of The Showdown, with the southern influenced straight forward rock riffing coupled with a metalcore foundation. Not exactly original, but different for a band coming out of Southern California. The albums title track takes things back to the band's more common ground of Killswitch Engage/early Atreyu influenced straight ahead metalcore leanings, with the angry verse/melodic chorus formula and the stop/start chugging riffs. There is a nice thrashy riff that drives the song though. 'Amnesia Ln.' follows with another dose of thrash riffing and a pretty wicked breakdown that leads into a nice melodic break to close out the song.

"Failure On Repeat" is an interesting track of epic proportions...well, for a band like Antagonist anyway. If the band were to write a ballad, or their own version of "The End Of Heartache", this would be it. Huge melodies carried by a solid rhythm, and vocals that are as intense as they are passionate. Sometimes lyrics have a broad scope and are sung/screamed with a certain intensity, but in this instance, Vocalist Carlos Garcia makes it evident that the lyrical content has some personal meaning behind it.

The second half of the album kicks in with 'Immaculate Misconception', and this is where the band brings in an extra dose of aggression. The song opens with a nice 2/4 blast a la classic Sepultura, and eventually settles into a mean chugging groove. Carlos also steps things up a notch, showcasing some guttural death metal vocals that add to the tracks overall heaviness. Unfortunately, "Final Words For An Unknown Friend" takes things back to the metalcore formula, with the screamo cleans and predictable breakdowns. The only thing that manages to set them apart is that unlike 9/10's of the metalcore bands out there, these guys actually have leads.

And of course, this album just wouldn't be the clusterfuck of styles that it is without some shouted gang vocals! And that's exactly what shows up in 'Angel'. However, in contrast to that little bit of hardcore influence, the thrash vibe reigns supreme, and there's also a pretty wicked fucking lead in this track. 'Awake', musically, is pure fucking metal. The emo/screamo cleans still kill the vibe, but outside of that, this track is definitely metal.

'So Let It Rain', the final track on the album, kicks off with a nice melodic intro, leading into a solid driving rhythm. Of course, the band can't resist, and the metalcore breakdown rears it's ugly head once again. Add to that the extended melodic break midway through the song with more of those cleans....not so good. There is some redemption though, in the extended melodic lead that shows up and leads to the close of the album.

It's pretty obvious that thrash is the order of the day in the Antagonist camp, as metalcore takes a backseat (but just barely) to the thrash-influenced riffing makes up the majority of this album. And the best part is that unlike this wave of shitty retro-thrash bands that are butchering the Thrash legacy of the 80's, Antagonist don't sound like they went back to 1986 to record their album. Another positive for the band is that they do a great job of bringing in the more metallic "head-nod inducing" breakdowns here and there, as opposed having nothing but "hadcore karate" style chug-a-chug breakdowns that are typical of the metalcore/deathcore scenes. The only bad thing really is when the clean vocals come in...they're extremely in the 'screamo/emo' vein, and totally kill the thrash vibe the band has going on.

Overall, this is a worthwile release from a young band that's still trying to find their own sound. The one thing that they could stand to rid their sound of is the emo vocals. It's great to have a vocalist that can scream AND sing, but in this case they'd be better off with a straight up screamer. Variety is great but isn't always the answer, and it doesn't always make a song or an album better. And in this case specifically, the album would have been better without it. Exist is nothing jaw dropping, but its definitely a worthwhile listen (if you don't mind the emo leanings). Definitely for fans of Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, It Dies Today, Diecast, and every other metalcore band that helped to completely oversaturate that scene.