Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Excoriate - On Pestilent Winds... (2009)

So I've a little bias to admit to you...Pestilence's Consuming Impulse is high on the short list of my very favorite metal albums of all time. So any band which manages to somehow recapture the intense crunch of guitars, powerful riff writing and truly brutal vocal delivery of that band and album in particular is going to give me a massive chubby. Excoriate are not simply attempting to clone that band, but they do capture a lot of what made it so special. THIS is fucking death metal!

Alright, Stefan Eberlein does do a pretty decent Martin van Drunen style. The vocals sound like contagious sewage that you've just been thrust into head first. There is no escape from the tormented, mean edge, especially when its thrust is controlled by these ripping, slicing guitar riffs, god what a great fucking tone. Totally like Consuming Impulse, though they do lack some of the groove of that death metal staple. All the originals here On Pestilent Winds... are quite good, but I favor the harsh and unrelenting "Bestial Slaughter" the doom/death of "Demons Rush", and the wild disgusting "From Morbid Ruins" with its thrashing punk charge riffs. You'll hear an early Sepultura influence to some of the band's riffing, so it's no surprise they include a cover of
"Mayhem" and it sounds perfectly in place amidst the originals.

The album is pretty short, about 30 minutes in length and there are only 5 songs aside from the intro and cover. This isn't a point against it, but the songs don't involve the level of catchy riffs which made the band's influences so immortal. Still, the entire affair thrives off a purist mentality and I certainly strained my neck from all the headbanging this incurred. Excoriate kicked my ass a bit with this debut. This is what more death metal would sound like if people only understood... Unfortunately, this album has been released posthumously; the band split up a few years ago. Damn.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]


http://www.doom-over-nuernberg.de/excoriate/excoriate.html

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