Exterminance
Vomiting The Trinity
5
Prior to picking this one up, I wasn’t familiar with Exterminance at all. But in quick succession, I ended up with two releases by this long-running outfit (if not a particularly prolific or popular one). Unfortunately, of the two I picked up, I listened to this one first, which was almost enough to make me toss out both of them in one fell swoop.
Vomiting The Trinity is a compilation that brings together 1994’s The Seven Deadly Sins and nine previously unreleased tracks. Because of the questionable decision to place the unreleased demos at the beginning, Vomiting falls short of making any positive first impressions about the band. Imagine something like early Morbid Angel with weak production and a lack of focused songwriting, and you’ve pretty much got a good idea of it. Given the odds ‘n’ ends nature of the release, it’s expected that the album doesn’t flow terribly well, but why the nine unreleased tracks are up first is baffling. These songs are clearly demos, and they're hampered by an insufferably poor mix--a snare like a tin can, cymbals like sheet metal, guitars bass-heavy and murky. Even if this were kvlt black metal, this rawness wouldn’t be acceptable—it simply distracts the listener and packs zero wallop. The whole thing plods along in a sloppy, buzzing rut that makes me want to zone out, walk off, or do anything besides stay involved with the music.
Very little within the first thirty minutes of playing time is compelling, so it’s a struggle to even make it to The Seven Deadly Sins tracks that take up the latter half of the album. By that point, if you’re still listening, you’re treated to a better-sounding record, at least. It’s still death metal in that classic vein, with noticeable doses of groove in the riffing and writing. While the band cleans up the production on these recordings--trading in the muddy riffing for a much-improved guitar tone and a more-varied vocal approach--they still aren’t addressing that whole “doesn’t make much of an impression” issue. There are catchy bits in the title track and “Surrogate For Suffocation,” but only "Cemetary Sermon" is a full-fledged song, rather than merely a collection of riffs and ideas. Even with a decent riff here or a good groove there, all of this is still outclassed by better records that you probably already own.
If this was a new band, I’d say something to the effect of, “Keep trying, guys. There’s potential, but you definitely need to find something to set you apart from the pack. Do that and get back to me.” But this isn’t a new band, or even a new record. It’s a re-release of a record that was forgotten, with the dubious addition of a set of songs that weren’t ever intended for commercial consumption. So if it’s not that great, and you're not part of a huge cult fan-base clamoring for Exterminance outtakes, then I can’t think of any reason why you should go out of your way to track this down. If you’re really in the mood for an overlooked ‘90s death metal also-ran, then I’d recommend searching out Xtreem Music’s re-issue of Morpheus Descends’ Ritual Of Infinity before you bother with Vomiting The Trinity.
