ALBUM REVIEW: Rotting In The Aftermath – Begrime Exemious
Canada’s BEGRIME EXEMIOUS are one of the many hidden gems within the country’s incredibly varied and active extreme metal scene. Distinguishing themselves by opting for a harsher and rawer brand of blackened death metal that incorporates a sizeable thrash influence, the band stands apart from the technical death metal and catchy, melodic black metal that many Canadian acts tend to adopt, providing a grimier and more feral take on the genre that has one foot very firmly planted in extreme metal’s primordial early days, without falling prey to being a bland imitation of the bands that have inspired them. Their latest, fourth album, Rotting In The Aftermath, is another impressive showing from the band, albeit with a slightly muddy sound.
Cruel Mistress is a suitably sinister sounding start to the album. The brooding, doom-laden guitars, interspersed with frenetic hooks, tight drumming and opaque, thunderous vocals, all add a claustrophobic feel, making for a coarse and inspired opening effort. Breach The Stronghold takes a faster, thrash-influenced approach, with sharp guitars vying with the bellicose vocals and energetic drums, giving this an urgent and at times unpredictable sound that makes it all the more impressive. Hell’s Embrace proves to be a fairly straight forward, rhythmic piece of death metal that takes the intricate and rabid elements of the previous track and brings that style more prominently to the fore. It’s a classic take on death metal that, when paired with the murkier production, makes this sound almost as if it could have been pulled from the demo of any classic death metal act, whilst still possessing its own flavour. Infected Mind grinds the pace back down to a dirge, with bleaker riffs and percussive drums resulting in a far meatier sound overall. It is decidedly more reserved, but also very much monstrous at points.
As Bodies Collapse serves as a catchy slab of death-thrash with plenty of aggression in the delivery of the guitars and vocals, making for a lively and impressive offering. Again, it’s got an old school extreme metal sound, but doesn’t come across as a cheap imitation of bands of that era in the slightest. Regressive Divisions makes for a groove-laden take on the formula of the preceding track, leaning heavily into the band’s death metal influences, with chunky guitar hooks, polished drums and arid, howling vocals all providing an acerbic, visceral edge that helps this song stick in the listener’s mind. Galvanized (Like Nails) again shifts the music towards thrash, with a liberal amount of hard rock pomp and technical, near chaotic passages lending a depth to the songwriting and an unhinged quality to proceedings. They make this song stand out from the songs that came before it, both in terms of musicianship and feral intensity.
Planetary Crypt is an all out aural assault, with venomous, seething vocals and cacophonous drum and guitar work immediately grabbing the listener’s attention. For the first time on this album, the production matches up perfectly with the tone of the music, with the rabid, grindcore-esque pace and style being complemented by the dirty edge of the mix in a better way than many of the last seven tracks. Diseased Mankind cuts an ominous and hypnotic figure, not unlike certain points of Cruel Mistress and Infected Mind, but with an acidic, black metal flourish to it that again aids the music massively, making it even darker, and an excellent conclusion to the record.
Musically, this album is great. Like a lot of bands that draw a heavy influence from extreme metal’s early days, where different subgenres oftentimes blurred together, there’s a lot going on here that helps to keep the music interesting, ranging from brilliant bursts of aggression like Planetary Crypt to doomier offerings like Cruel Mistress and Diseased Mankind, which all serve as very strong contenders for this album’s stand out performances. It’s also hard to fault the band when it comes to musicianship. The more muted production that has informed much of this album, however, prevents a lot of this music from achieving its full potential, which is a shame, because the vast majority of these songs are evidently impressive, and this could have been a stunning record if the mix had remained really good throughout. Nonetheless, the talent and the songwriting are in there in abundance, and shines through in spite of this solitary setback.
Rating: 7/10
Rotting In The Aftermath is out now via Dark Descent Records.
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