EXHORDER
EXHORDER “Defectum Omnium”
By Dr. Abner Mality
EXHORDER has always been an enigma to me. Their first record “Slaughter In the Vatican” I never thought was the classic others claimed it was and “The Law” impressed me even less. Many claimed PANTERA stole the EXHORDER sound for their own. If so, I’d say they improved on it.
After a long slumber, they returned a couple of years back, as older bands are always compelled to do, and their album “Mourn The Southern Skies” was generally acclaimed. Now in short order we have “Defectum Omnium”, which translates to “Everything is Fucked”, basically, and I am putting it under the Mality microscope.
This record takes a while to sink in, but I eventually got there. First track “Wrath of Prophecies” didn’t exactly light a fire in me, as it is very typical groove-thrash of the kind EXHORDER pioneered, with a rather awkward vocal line in the chorus. But as the album trundled on, the intensity increased and so did the variety. In fact, I’d say this is an album where the slower songs are the most powerful and immediate. “The Tale of Unsound Minds”, “Taken By Flames” and “Your Six” all sport that greasy, swampy sludge sound that NOLA is best known for. Vocalist Kyle Thomas excels on these tunes and seems born to croon these tales of hard luck and misery.
EXHORDER tries for an epic sound on “Defectum Omnium/ Stolen Hope” and “Three Stages of Truth/Lacing the Well”. The former has a Latin chant that bleeds into a fast thrashing vibe at first but also features more of the bluesy NOLA sludge. Very effective track. The latter is much the same in its approach and the placement of these songs right next to each other is kind of strange, but I can’t knock the results.
Elsewhere, short biting tracks like “Divide and Conquer” and “Desensitized” unleash some of the best thrash this band has ever done, nearing death metal intensity. The rest of the album kind of strikes me as just the usual groove-thrash...not exceptional, but certainly not bad. Musically the performances are all tight and Thomas is really an effective vocalist for the band.
I’m sure we’ll have the usual elitist types who will say only “Slaughter In The Vatican” is worth listening to, but frankly this has emerged as my favorite EXHORDER album. If we ever get anything new from PANTERA, it will be hard pressed to match this.