Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Exumer - The Raging Tides (2016)

Let me be brutally honest here. Exumer's a thrash act and you'll catch that from the moment you put this record on. But at the core, there's just way too much fucking Slayer worship here for me. I get it, you really dig that early Slayer and that punk attitude that they had, but for the love of all that's metal, differentiate it up a little bit. I listened to the entire album from front to back and only a small bonus cut called “Forever My Queen” managed to actually change the tempo a little. Which means I literally sat through almost forty minutes of what sounded like the same damn song. Granted these guys definitely have the Slayer formula down and they certainly deliver in the solo department with the utmost care and concern, but as far as the meat of these cuts, it doesn't really seem to go too far beyond Hanneman's legacy. It would be nice to hear them do some groovier cuts, some slower cuts, or maybe just utilize more than the same old sets of riff patterns that I've already heard in the opener. But don't take my word for it, listen to the record itself. Granted I can hear the hardcore influence here, but I'd much prefer something like Pro-Pain or Prong's thrashier stuff. It's noting against the guys, as they're doing a great job with what they're doing, I'm just not getting anything I haven't heard before and it is a bit bland. Aside from the solos, of course. One again, the band really did put a lot of thought into the album's solo sections and those are at least memorable. If you're looking for speed-thrash that pulls no punches, give the record a listen. But know what you're getting here, which is approximately forty minutes of classic Slayer worship with some punk and hardcore influence.

(12 Tracks, 41:00)

6/10

No comments:

Post a Comment