I strongly believe, there are lots of bands in the ever-so-strong Teutonic thrash metal scene, that for some time lived in the shadow of the unholy trinity (KREATOR, SODOM and DESTRUCTION). TANKARD, HOLY MOSES, PARADOX and MEKONG DELTA are well established and part of major labels, so they’re excluded from this category. Bands like DAKNESS, ASSASSIN and the subject of this review: EXUMER. Τheri albums “Possessed By Fire” (1986) and “Rising From The Sea” (1987) are considered classics, showing us the German way of dirty speed/thrash attitude! After a split-up, they reunited, and “Fire And Damnation” (2012) was the release that brought them back on track. A mediocre comeback, in a SLAYER-meets-EXODUS motif, missing the band’s initial character. Did they manage to make a better record this time?
This year’s “The Raging Tides” comes kicking in, with the title track bringing back some of the ferocity of the first two albums, combined with modern thrash influences, on their sound. The difference is critical: you can once again listen to EXUMER and not EXUMER trying to play SLAYER or EXODUS. “Brand Of Evil” comes up to keep up the tempo with trademark EXUMER riffage, meant to create massive mosh pits in live shows, including great soloing. “Catatonic” follows up with a mid-tempo, mosh-oriented riff-fest. “Sacred Defense” brings up the SLAYER influences once more, balanced with the dirty riffagethey are known for. The death metal intro riff of “Welcome To Hellfire” brings us some more fast paced, EXUMER the modern way (with another touch of SLAYER on the main riff).
Things get old school again with “Sinister Souls”, showing us some top notch solos. Time to slow down with “Shadow Maker” slowly building up the tempo, into a mid-tempo mosh-fest, giving us room to breathe. The final triple hit of the album, “There Will Always Be Blood” (some punk-ish riffage to spice things up), “Dark Reflections” and “Death Factory”, sums up the return of EXUMER in great form! Two bonus covers in: “Forever My Queen” by PENTAGRAM, a daring choice in which they did it justice to, and “Hostage To Heaven” by GRIP INC. with some great guests: Rob Dukes (ex-EXODUS), Waldemar Sorychta on guitars and Markus Freiwald (SODOM) on drums! Now, that’s what I call “the icing on the cake”.
Thirty-five minutes of badass modern German thrash, the actual comeback of EXUMER. The German thrash scene, started well enough this year. Now, it’s DESTRUCTION’s turn with “Under Attack” and maybe SODOM, who knows?
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