Artist Excruciation
Title [t]horns [white]
Format LP
Label The Ritual Productions
Release Year 2013
Genre DOOM, DEATH
Country France
Print
CatalogueNumber TRP 16
Description:
Limited white vinyl

What is interesting about Excruciation is they have had a longcareer in metal that has been one huge struggle. The band wasformed in Switzerland way back in 1984 and despite a succession ofgood demo recordings, didn't get their debut full length albumreleased till 2007. They did however released a EP in 1987 thataccording to the band sold over 15,000 copies so it is surprisingthey remained in obscurity all these years. The story goes that theband was very active in the late 80s and early 90s but due tointernal differences they split just as they were getting ready torecord at Morrissound Studios in Tampa, Florida. After a longbreak, they reappeared to release the Arise EP in 2005 and havebeen busy ever since. This album was recorded in 2009 but is onlynow getting noticed by the underground metal media. The band haschanged a lot over the years, they started as a death-metal outfitbut now have moved into a doom-death direction with the death metalgrunts being replaced by a more traditional rock vocal andmusically shifting into a melodic, atmospheric death-doom style.Their style now can be compared with Paradise Lost and while thereare still traces of death-metal it is mostly mournful, melodic doomwith droning fuzzy riffs. The main source of atmosphere comes fromthe creepy, somewhat sinister guitar work and vocals plus aproduction job which kind of sounds like it was recorded underwater. Vocals range from growls to spoken word parts with some ofthe vocals sounding like they are being sung in an undergroundtunnel. Some of it is classic, majestic death doom as in trackslike December 12 and Faith of the Discarded which are two veryatmospheric doom tracks that sound like they are straight out ofthe golden doom era of the early 90's. While the style is old, theband sounds fresh and somehow different from the norm in thedeath-doom scene today. Dust (Prelude) and the following emotionalroller-coaster known as Vultures has a certain mysticism about it.The other album highlight is And The Dead Start To Breathe Againwhich is the albums closing piece and the guitar sound on this tuneis a bit thicker than what you hear on the rest of the album.Mostly the guitar sound is a bit high and thin for playing thiskind of doom-death and that takes away some of the emotional powerof the tracks. Also, sadly all these highlights occur in the secondhalf of the album. The albums first half sounds a bit lack-lustercompared to the albums very strong second half and it also lacksthe variation that you will hear in the second half. With all duerespect, the first 4-5 songs are still decent but are not verymemorable. Traditional doom fans will like some of the grooves andheavy chugging guitar work and there is also a bluesy element thatshows itself in small doses especially in December 12. The vocalwork and the effects they use are very unique and atmospheric butthe albums biggest flaw is in the production. However having saidthat, I know some people will say the production is great as a lotof folks go nuts for this kind of mix but I am not one of thosepeople. For me the guitar sound needs a much needed boost and lacksa certain amount of dirt but I do like the atmosphere they got onthe album. This Swiss band delivers a good variant of doom, deathmetal and progressive metal with some good ideas and it is allplayed with a great deal of passion so it is hard to pick too manyholes in it. Without a doubt an album worth checking out especiallyif you still dig the death, gothic doom sounds on the early90s
Track listing:
1. Raptus
2. Dignitas
3. A Dying Sun
4. 67 (Interlude)
5. December 12
6. Dust a Prelude
7. Vultures
8. Faith of the Discarded
9. I Hail You
10. And the Dead Start to Breathe Again

Condition cover: nm

Condition record: nm

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