I had been eagerly anticipating this release since I saw it announced some months ago. Exmortem is one of my favorite Danish death metal acts, I have always enjoyed their fusion of Scandinavian tone with a slightly more American approach to the riffing, and they have produced some killer records like Dejected in Obscurity and Pestilence Empire over their substantial career.
Funeral Phantoms certainly doesn't disappoint, opening with the brutal strut of "Black Opium". Sledgehammer riffs crawl with a barbaric menace. "Souls of Tyrants" chokes the life out of you with its dense grooves, and then they pick up the pace with the insane "Fixed in Slime" and title track. Some of my other picks here are "Slow Death Regimes" and "For the Grave of History". There is a World War conceptual theme throughout the lyrics and I feel they really represent this in the brutality and desolation of the songwriting.
This is yet another superb album for the Danes. The tone of the album is like a bulldozer leveling a ghetto. Simon's vocals are perfect guttural and he lets them ring when is phrasing each lyric, only adds to the decimation and truly connects this band to their old school influence. If you are a fan of simpler riffing in death metal and overall brutality, place this right behind Hail of Bullets debut as a must have for this year!
Verdict: Win [8/10]
http://www.myspace.com/exmortem
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