ALBUM REVIEW: Eleventh Formulae – Exhumation

Indonesia’s EXHUMATION are a band that epitomise all the best elements of the early extreme metal scene in their music. With their first two albums, 2012’s Hymn to your God and 2014’s Opus Death, both receiving critical acclaim from fans and critics alike, EXHUMATION have done a great job of crafting a solid reputation for making monstrous death metal with a tight and belligerent thrash undercurrent. But their third album, Eleventh Formulae, an album that has been six years in the making, proves to be their best output to date.

Mors Gloria Est is a monstrous opener, with a dark and atmospheric motif giving way to some classic death metal hooks with a solid thrash undertone. It’s clear that EXHUMATION take inspiration from the early days of extreme metal when genre lines were more blurred, and the tight rhythms and feral guitar solos giving this a strong thrash sound, and some thunderous drums and vicious vocals giving it an impressive death metal pedigree. Inferno Dwellers is a much slower, more doom-laden offering. It quickly gathers pace, becoming far more fierce and strident in its approach, with demented vocals adding a sense of urgency to the song, making for a powerful listen. Formulae I: Malediction Bells, with it’s ethereal, sombre elements, adds another layer to the EXHUMATION‘s sound, notably the use of haunting atmospheres. It’s a great instrumental piece that has a fantastic sepulchral feel.

Grandeur Dawn is a meaty slab of caustic death metal, with some weighty guitar hooks and machine gun precise drumming building a huge, melody inflected wall of noise. It’s a full throttle, aggressive aural assault that proves to be one cohesive, bestial blast that is guaranteed to impress. Vicious Ecstasy is a discordant, jarring affair with primitive drums and unhinged guitars that ends up being one of the most savage songs on the record. It may be short, but it nonetheless leaves its mark on Eleventh Formulae as a whole. Arcane Dance follows in much the same vein as it’s predecessor, with rabid guitars coupling with pounding, scatter-brained drums to give the listener an utterly cacophonous and unyielding track to sink their teeth into, ultimately turning into a short sharp shock of caustic, thrashing death metal.

Formulae II: Ironheart Rapture, with its great use of soundbites and a minimalist, eerie piano, shows another side of EXHUMATION‘s music. It’s a light and powerful moment that gives the listener a brief reprieve from the aggression on offer, acting as an extremely cinematic and memorable interlude that does a great job of breaking up the album’s two halves. Ominous Chants is a wonderfully gnarly song, with a much more substantial, sludgy guitar sound. The vocals adopt an arid roar that lends itself well to the monolithic music on display, and prove to be some of the best and most impassioned vocal deliveries on the whole album. It’s a great example of how this band are able to shift between mid-tempo licks and animalistic, furious sections without breaking stride.

Blood Trails, with its disjointed leads and breakneck pace, successfully gives Eleventh Formulae even more of a primal edge, bursting out of the speaker at an ungodly tempo and rarely taking its foot off the gas until it comes to its conclusion. Perdition Spells manages to strike a great balance between the ripping thrash undercurrent of the bands sound and the more robust, crunching death metal elements that dominate the bands sound. It’s also got some amazing vocals that pepper in just a little bit of 80’s black metal, something which makes for a varied and magnificent climactic exclamation point to the album. Formulae III: Eleventh Vessel is one last, monolithic offering that is absolutely dripping with atmosphere from start to finish. Possessing an airy quality that makes it immediately intriguing, and making great use of spoken words parts, it finally launching into a powerful rhythmic blending of full, chord heavy guitar work and solid, groove-laden drums, making for one final, punishing slab of death metal before the album finally comes to a close.

Eleventh Formulae is a fantastic album from start to finish, and it’s hard to fault any of the songs that feature here. EXHUMATION clearly has both feet firmly planted in the old school metal sound, and the excellent mix of death and thrash – with a few subtle hints at black metal and horror movie soundtracks – makes every second of this album thoroughly engrossing. There is a savage sound throughout that many bands try and fail the achieve, and the production has just the right amount of rawness. It may have taken EXHUMATION over six years to put this album out, but it has certainly been more than worth the extended wait.

Rating: 9/10

Eleventh Formulae is out now via Pulverised Records. 

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