Excessum
Death Redemption
4.9
Pseudo vicious, death tinged black metal from Sweden is the order of the day for Excessum, and while it’s delivered in acceptable fashion, bands like Dark Funeral, Necrophobic and Marduk have nothing to worry about as a pretty underwhelming production saps a lot of this album’s seething approach.
After the generic moody instrumental intro “Ceremonial Blessings” (yaaaaaaaaaaawn), Excessum render scathing opening salvo for “Ritual Through Holy Blood” but it highlights Excessum's main flaw other than their production; the songs are too long. Vitriolic black metal should be like stab wounds; in and fucking out-just listen to Dark Funeral’s new one to hear the perfect black metal song timing. Excessum’s 6-8 minute forays wane as the album goes on, considerably lessening the impact of the songs and the entire album. “The Mournful Held Within” injects some melody into the sound and few slowdowns; solidly done but again- it just drags on. As far as actual riffage, Excessum are pretty solid riff crafters within their chosen style as they seem to mangle black metal’s speed with the staccato harmonies, without too much pomp or need for synths, but their approach cries for a wall of sound, Marduk/Dark Funeral production not their drier Darkthrone minimalism. The title track slows down for its death throes, showing some restraint, and “Lies of the Deceiver” is a swirling black metal assault, but starts to show that a lot of the tracks are slightly interchangeable, with not much character between them; fast churning black metal, some harmonies and maybe a slow down or some sort. By the time “Creations (Of the Divine Architect)” rolls by, Excessum have pretty much blown their wad and the listener finds him or herself in a bit of a musical rut. “Bleed Eternally” tries to break the rut with a slower, more somber approach, but doesn’t do so effectively enough to make it noticeable within the framework of the entire album.
Not a bad album really, just not a very good one especially considering how dominant their peers (Marduk, Dark Funeral) have been with their recent albums, and truth be told, Excessum have enough ability to stick around, but I'd be very surprised if I ever heard them again.
