When the subject of dubstep comes up, there are a few names you’re bound to hear. Among the less well-acquainted, you’re almost guaranteed to hear Skrillex. But I’ve noticed that among those who are large fans, Excision seems to be one of the first names to show up. It’s easy to see why even at a glance – his hard hitting songs are the kind you can get absorbed in.

When I mention Excision, I have always referred to him as the “God of the Intro”. While this may be an overstatement, there is no doubt that his intros are among the best. Existence (VIP version, featuring Downlink) is a perfect example of the standard Excision experience.

The growling, alien vocals are a signature sound appearing on a few Excision tracks, giving a powerful intro. They appear in quite a few tracks, generally talking about the end of Earth. The drop that follows is always a heavy hit with powerful bass that rattles the floors. Excision brings in an element of badass that metal fans can relate to, electronic fans can crave, and that can drown out anyone else’s complaining.

An even better show of Excision’s powerful intros is Crowd Control (again featuring Downlink). It starts off with an already bass-heavy buildup that makes it nearly impossible to not get pumped up, followed by an even stronger drop that can barely even be explained with words. Excision holds a particular talent in taking his drops to a whole other level, and I think that’s where most of his popularity comes from.

That isn’t to say he’s without flaws. When you focus so much attention to an amazing start, other problems appear. To start, his songs often tend to feel repetitive. A smaller fan may not really notice it, but his songs often get old after you’ve been listening to them for quite some time. Another question, though not really a complaint, would be that he almost seems to collaborate too much. While I love his collaborations, you have to wonder how original his songs would be without these. Out of his roughly 40 songs I could locate, 10 were him alone and the other 3/4 were with various artists. While I certainly think working with a good variety of others is a great thing, it feels odd when X Rated only features 2 songs of him on his own.

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