8/10

Every once in a while a band arrives with a debut so audacious, so gloriously chaotic, that you can practically hear the rulebook bursting into flames. Portland duo Exceptional Failures unleash exactly that with 'Jungle in my Head', an eight-track gauntlet of unfiltered adrenaline that proves two humans, a guitar, and a drum kit can spark a musical wildfire hotter than most full ensembles.

What makes this album exhilarating is the way the pair make wild pivoting between genres feel intentional, even inevitable. Funk erupts into punk. Blues dissolves into an indie haze. A soulful groove suddenly detonates into a wall of distortion. It’s like rifling through decades of rock history at high speed, guided by two musicians who refuse to keep their hands at 10 and 2.

The chemistry between them is the engine, with Distler’s guitar work ricocheting between swagger, venom, and tenderness, while Damian drums like he’s wrestling both the kit and the song into submission. Together they create an edge-of-disaster energy that tightens, sharpens, and becomes the album’s greatest weapon.

It helps that Exceptional Failures have been earning their stripes across Portland’s stages, dropping singles that showed promise. But this album takes all that groundwork and ignites it. You can hear a duo realising, in real time, exactly what they’re capable of.

'Jungle in my Head' doesn’t care about genre walls or purist expectations. It’s loud, unhinged, deeply felt, and stupidly fun; the kind of record that makes you feel like the room just tilted under your feet.

Rock needs bands like Exceptional Failures: artists willing to make a glorious mess, chase instinct over safety, and trust that we can handle the ride.