First of all, let me just point out that this is not the Bay Area inspired thrash metal that some of the reviewers perceive it to be. No, this album is actually a great blend of death metal, melodic death metal and thrash metal. That said, this album is probably more melodic death metal than it is thrash metal. Still confused? Well this is how I would describe this album. Take At The Gates' 'Slaughter of the Soul' (1995), replace the simplicity with technicality, make the music more brutal, throw in some complex song structures and some great "over the top" solos as the icing on the cake.

Speaking of solos, this album has truckloads of great solos. And the best part is that the solos show great variety. You have the crazy DragonForce-esque shredding in 'Triumph by Fire', the insane and incoherent solo in the title track... And the list just goes on.

While the guitar solos show some great variety, the actual music doesn't. All the songs actually follow the same traditional melodic death metal structure that was laid out by At The Gates in 'Slaughter of the Soul'. Fast verses and catchy choruses. But what separates Exmortus from the legions of mediocre melodeath bands is that Exmortus actually try their hardest to bring as much variety as they can in the song structures. They try everything from extending the second chorus a bit to incorporating guitar solos in between the verses. The band deserves respect for trying their hardest to make themselves stand out from their peers.

So what about the songs? Well the first seven tracks in this album all kick major ass. ESPECIALLY the title track. 'Triumph by Fire' is a lot like the title track, but it has a great guitar solo section which I already mentioned earlier in this review. 'War Gods' and 'Onwards to Battle' are in the same vein as the previous two tracks but lack the ferocity that was present in the first two tracks. But don't let my words fool you, they are still quite good tracks. 'Valor and Might' is a really cool track and perhaps the most different track from the album. It has an epic Iron Maiden feel to it, which is cool. 'Axes of War' is a nice little instrumental, but the album starts to become redundant at this point and its best that you eject the CD after this track ends because the songs after it are really boring to be honest.

So anyways, its a nice album which could have been better if the last four tracks weren't complete filler. The good outweighs the bad, though, and the album is good enough to get a 7.5 rating.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by MegaHassan
11/16/2008 22:37