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EXSANGUINATION
Burial Rites

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions (2023)
Rating: 8/10

The rumbling sound you hear out of Massachusetts is the second full-length studio album from death metal combo Exsanguination. Even so, this is not the basic, swampy death metal you may be expecting because there is very much a blackened edge applied, especially with the snappy vocals of guitarist Daniel Lozzi.

A majority of the tracks on Burial Rites have a volatile approach where abrasive tones are delivered by the blizzard of guitar strikes. Opener ‘Reborn In A Casket’ is fast, scathing and despicably thrashy, while ‘Coffin Dweller’ is similarly icy, snaking in its cold yet melodious streaks, but when slower, catchier segments come to the fore there is more of a crustier and punkier kick.

Much of what is on offer here boasts a snarling belligerence, dragged further across the black ice by those thorny vocal escapades. The whole feel of this record is one of complete darkness, each track flitting by with a scowl. ‘The Pleasure To End All Pleasures’ yaps and gnashes with a fury, and that’s the theme; crisp but wickedly served thrashing death that smoulders at its blackened edges.

Not necessarily hard to describe, songs like ‘Into The Abyss’ and ‘The Void’ explore a more angular level of intensity to the point of a remoteness and arrogance, but these are much needed ingredients when constructing such spiteful blends.

Neil Arnold

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