Exmortus
For the Horde 7”
With a death metal
name like Exmortus, going in I figured I knew what to expect. The name’s the only death metal part of the
band, and thank God for that. These guys
get thrash right, with a very Annihilator-esque sound, very welcome in these
days of power punk and death metal.
“For the Horde”
features the same driving guitars and rhythm attack as all the classic thrash
bands ever did, complete with the growly-yet-coherent vocals favored by Annihilator
and other acts that weren’t willing to all the way to the grumbling incoherence
of death metal. It opens with the most
Mettalica-ish guitar-based opening before being joined by Conan Moreno’s
snarling vocals. This marriage of sounds
brings one back a long ways - if one can remember as far back as me – to the
joy of discovering a new band as great as the bands you loved.
The B-side tune
covers Yngwie Malmsteen’s “As Above, So Below.”
Covering, as it does, one of thrash metal’s favorite tropes of death and
the undead and the sinister side of mysticism, the track holds up well, and
guitarists Moreno and David Rivera hold their own on a tune penned by one of
the 1980s’ most gifted metal guitarists, and the solo embedded in the center of
this tune kicks some righteous ass.
The whole
enterprise would fall apart without the gifted support of bassist Michael Cosio
and Mario Moreno (cousin to vocalist/guitarist Conan) on drums. Based on these two tunes alone (and it’s all
I’ve got to go on right now) I sincerely hope Exmortus gifts the world with
more, much more of this pure thrashy excellence.
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