Portland duo Exceptional Failures return with their debut full-length ‘Jungle in My Head’. What Distler (vocals/guitar) and Damian (drums) deliver here is a delirious, genre-shifting joyride through rock’s wildest corners, stitched together with an energy so volatile it practically shakes the walls.
Across eight tracks, EF tear through rock’s sprawling family tree with the reckless enthusiasm of musicians who refuse to sit still. One moment they’re slinking through a groove that could’ve wandered out of a sweaty soul club, the next they’re throttling through punk fury, or dipping into blues-soaked grit, or floating on the edge of psychedelic indie haze. It should feel disjointed, but this band makes the chaos click. Their superpower is turning the unexpected into the inevitable.
What binds the madness together is their signature dynamic punch, with whisper-quiet verses that suddenly explode into gut-level distortion, riffs that swing like wrecking balls, and Damian’s drumming that feels like he’s summoning weather systems. For a duo, they sound absurdly huge, delivering a storm condensed into two humans who somehow keep outrunning it.
Fans who found EF through earlier singles like ‘Daze’ or ‘Cherry Mist’ will recognise the big feelings, bigger volume, all served with an endearing sincerity beneath the noise. But ‘Jungle in My Head’ is the first time the band have shaped their glorious unpredictability into a unified world. It’s the sound of a group discovering what they do best by twisting every rock influence they’ve ever loved into something that’s unmistakably theirs.
There are moments that hit like live favourites-in-waiting, moments that feel like someone ripping open their ribcage mid-chorus, and moments where the band seem to sprint into a new genre simply because they can. It’s a record that refuses to sit neatly on any shelf.
‘Jungle in My Head’ is a crash course in why rock thrives in its misfits, and why Exceptional Failures might be Portland’s most exciting two-person riot in years. If you want safety, look elsewhere. If you want adrenaline disguised as an album, step right into the jungle.