Exmortem - Nihilistic Contentment
Wicked World Records - WICK19CD - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
If this release by Danish brutal deathsters Exmortem is anything to go by, 2005 is set to be a great year for extreme music in general, and death metal in particular. Combining the sick riffage and hypervelocities of death metal legends Morbid Angel with the dizzying technicality of recent UM faves Anata, then throwing in some of the compositional complexity and suffocatingly heavy atmospherics of sadly departed fellow Danes Iniquity, Nihilistic Contentment is a landmark in sheer savagery.
The production job by Tue Madsen is flawless - the drums are powerful and crystal clear, the guitars grind and crush during the slower sections, and flay the flesh from the bones in the more prevalent hell-for-leather passages. These sections are aided in their precision by the return of previous drummer Reno after his stint with Dimmu Borgir. The vocals range from bottom-end-rumbling growls to throaty rasps, with occasional nods to the black metal scene - for instance, the militaristic intro to deliciously twisted highlight track 'Black Walls Of Misery' features vocals that sound particularly strangulated and evil.
Melody is pretty much a dirty word here, although some twisted discordance and dissonance does somehow manage to stick in the mind, and the variance in tempo and feel between the tracks ensures that the album retains interest from start to finish. 'Division Of Genocide Pleasure' features an outro passage that recalls the end of Monstrosity's last release, with the volume gradually increasing and guitar tremolo wails and screams increasing in prevalence, before instrumental intermission 'Swamp Of Decadence' comes along to provide room to breath. This track is simply a short bout of slow-marching samples and piano stabs, providing both a moment to rest and a suitably evil-sounding atmosphere.
Generally, this is an outstanding release, firing the opening salvo for the coming death metal wars to come.
8.5/10
Exmortem Official Website
Wicked World Records Website
Wicked World Records - WICK19CD - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
If this release by Danish brutal deathsters Exmortem is anything to go by, 2005 is set to be a great year for extreme music in general, and death metal in particular. Combining the sick riffage and hypervelocities of death metal legends Morbid Angel with the dizzying technicality of recent UM faves Anata, then throwing in some of the compositional complexity and suffocatingly heavy atmospherics of sadly departed fellow Danes Iniquity, Nihilistic Contentment is a landmark in sheer savagery.
The production job by Tue Madsen is flawless - the drums are powerful and crystal clear, the guitars grind and crush during the slower sections, and flay the flesh from the bones in the more prevalent hell-for-leather passages. These sections are aided in their precision by the return of previous drummer Reno after his stint with Dimmu Borgir. The vocals range from bottom-end-rumbling growls to throaty rasps, with occasional nods to the black metal scene - for instance, the militaristic intro to deliciously twisted highlight track 'Black Walls Of Misery' features vocals that sound particularly strangulated and evil.
Melody is pretty much a dirty word here, although some twisted discordance and dissonance does somehow manage to stick in the mind, and the variance in tempo and feel between the tracks ensures that the album retains interest from start to finish. 'Division Of Genocide Pleasure' features an outro passage that recalls the end of Monstrosity's last release, with the volume gradually increasing and guitar tremolo wails and screams increasing in prevalence, before instrumental intermission 'Swamp Of Decadence' comes along to provide room to breath. This track is simply a short bout of slow-marching samples and piano stabs, providing both a moment to rest and a suitably evil-sounding atmosphere.
Generally, this is an outstanding release, firing the opening salvo for the coming death metal wars to come.
8.5/10
Exmortem Official Website
Wicked World Records Website
