Exhorder – Defectum Omnium Review

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It took me a very long while to decypher this album “Defectum Omnium” from the long time veterans Exhorder which drop here an insane mix of Power Metal with Thrash Metal with lots of 1990’s slants. To some extent, I found the album stuck in the nineties with tracks as “The Tale of Unsound Minds” whose Alice in Chains influences are so clear. The shoegazed and slow tunes here shows a band that is willing to go in a diverse direction.

Exhorder are considered progenitors of the groove-oriented thrash sound later made famous by bands such as Pantera and Machine Head, and their music has been regarded as a large influence on the New Orleans metal scene. Initially active from 1985 to 1994 and reformed from 2008 to 2011, the band has since reformed in 2017. To date, the band has released four studio albums: 1990’s “Slaughter in the Vatican,” “The Law,” 2019’s “Mourn the Southern Skies,” and this “Defectum Omnium.”

As my dear child of the night knows I don’t ever pretend to know an album just because they are veterans and for some unknown reasons I should have met them somehow. No, I don’t know Exhorder’s past releases, but I can tell by this “Defectum Omnium” they are far from their original path. I’m not saying the album is bad, on the contrary, it’s pulsing with high does of energy and it’s pretty varied. Besides some shoegazed and doomy moments there are tracks as “Taken By Flames” whose speed and power exceed the expectation. Then comes tittle track “Defectum Omnium/Stolen Hope” a track that embodies the spirit of the 1990’s with slow spirited moments full of instrumental plot twists. To some extent, it reminds me of Temple of the Dog’s“Hunger Strike.”Maybe “Lacing the Well” is the track that goes back to the band’s original path with a speed full of spice.

Some albums are more difficult than others to get. It wasn’t only the author’s block, but also the short time. This year has been a hell to find the time to write. But life goes on and albums never cease to drop here.

Exhorder “Defectum Omnium” was released on March 08th via Nuclear Blast Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Wrath of Prophecies
  2. Under the Gaslight
  3. Forever and Beyond Despair
  4. The Tale of Unsound Minds
  5. Divide and Conquer
  6. Year of the Goat
  7. Taken By Flames
  8. Defectum Omnium/Stolen Hope
  9. Lacing the Well
  10. Sedition
  11. Desensitized
  12. Your Six

Watch “Wrath of Prophecies” official lyric video here:

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