Drum tracking for Exul started in March 2020. There is an ominous tone to that date: March 2020. The pandemic demarcation line. That month, Daniel Presland laid down his drums in Nashville, Tennessee, with American producer Mark Lewis. As flight cancellations increased and borders shuttered, Presland made it home hours before Australia closed theirs. Lewis, guitarist Benjamin Baret and bassist Martino Garattoni weren’t as lucky. They were due to land in Australia in the days that followed to continue tracking, but were forced to remain overeseas indefinitely. With recording studios shuttered throughout Melbourne, a slow, tedious, life-altering two-year grind to complete Exul ensued for Ne Obliviscaris.
What should have been the continued upward swing after 2017’s critically acclaimed Urn turned into the most fraught moment of Ne Obliviscaris’s career. It was a time filled with death, relationships breaking down, despair and financial loss. Presland, Ne Obliviscaris’s drummer since 2005, parted ways in early 2022, throwing another wrench into the band’s plans.
There are, however, happy accidents scattered throughout the creation of Exul. The unexpected downtime allowed the band to fine-tune and even re-write parts. The album personifies Ne Obliviscaris’s distinctive, boundary-pushing ethos. The band’s trademark blend of emotion and beauty is as towering as ever, if not even more compelling.
