Excruciation - [t]horns ...

What is interesting about Excruciation is they have had a long career in metal that has been one huge struggle. The band was formed in Switzerland way back in 1984 and despite a succession of good demo recordings, didn't get their début full length album released till 2007. They did however released a EP in 1987 that according to the band sold over 15,000 copies so it is surprising they remained in obscurity all these years. The story goes that the band was very active in the late 80's and early 90's but due to internal differences they split just as they were getting ready to record at Morrissound Studios in Tampa, Florida. After a long break, they reappeared to release the "Arise" EP in 2005 and have been busy ever since. This album was recorded in 2009 but is only now getting noticed by the underground metal media. The band has changed a lot over the years, they started as a death-metal outfit but now have moved into a doom-death direction with the death metal grunts being replaced by a more traditional rock vocal and musically shifting into a melodic, atmospheric death-doom style. Their style now can be compared with Paradise Lost and while there is still traces of death-metal it is mostly mournful, melodic doom with droning fuzzy riffs.

The main source of atmosphere comes from the creepy, somewhat sinister guitar work and vocals plus a production job which kind of sounds like it was recorded under water. Vocals range from growls to spoken word parts with some of the vocals sounding like they are being sung in an underground tunnel. Some of it is classic, majestic death doom as in tracks like "December 12" and "Faith of the Discarded" which are two very atmospheric doom tracks that sound like they are straight out of the golden doom era of the early 90's. While the style is old, the band sounds fresh and somehow different from the norm in the death-doom scene today. "Dust (Prelude)" and the following emotional roller-coaster known as "Vultures" has a certain mysticism about it. The other album highlight is "And The Dead Start To Breathe Again" which is the albums closing piece and the guitar sound on this tune is a bit thicker than what you hear on the rest of the album. Mostly the guitar sound is a bit high and thin for playing this kind of doom-death and that takes away some of the emotional power of the tracks. Also, sadly all these highlights occur in the second half of the album. The albums first half sounds a bit lack-luster compared to the albums very strong second half and it also lacks the variation that you will hear in the second half. With all due respect, the first 4-5 songs are still decent but are not very memorable.

Traditional doom fans will like some of the grooves and heavy chugging guitar work and there is also a bluesy element that shows itself in small doses especially in "December 12." The vocal work and the effects they use are very unique and atmospheric but the albums biggest flaw is in the production. However having said that, I know some people will say the production is great as a lot of folks go nuts for this kind of mix but I am not one of those people. For me the guitar sound needs a much needed boost and lacks a certain amount of dirt but I do like the atmosphere they got on the album. This swiss band delivers a good variant of doom, death metal and progressive metal with some good ideas and it is all played with a great deal of passion so it is hard to pick too many holes in it. Without a doubt an album worth checking out especially if you still dig the death, gothic doom sounds on the early 90's.......7/10
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