This is the fourth album from Canadian black/death metallers Begrime Exemious.
Rotting in the Aftermath contains 37 minutes of filthy underground death metal with a raw blackened edge of ice. This is the most death metal I’ve heard the band, and they sound like they’re enjoying themselves with it.
Rotting in the Aftermath sounds dirty, evil, and nasty straight from the start, and it doesn’t let up. The songs are all very satisfying, hitting me right in that old-school spot that can sometimes be so hard to reach. No track lasts longer than four and a half minutes, (most fall just shy), and the band go for the kill with lethal focus.
The album’s combination of black and death metal is inspired; Begrime Exemious take from both to produce music that feels like a real hybrid of the two. The music has a loose, DIY vibe to it that speaks of underground black metal, yet is brought together into an unforgiving death metal framework that ensures the delivery is forceful and muscular.
I really like the energy of these songs; they sound frenetic and dangerous, like they’re only a hair’s breadth away from snapping and unleashing true carnage. The album has an unhinged blackthrash/war metal feel to it without it really being a blackthrash or a war metal album, although elements of these styles do appear in Begrime Exemious’ sound.
Rotting in the Aftermath is an album that appears deceptively primitive on first glance, but when you look a bit closer the solid songwriting and compositional flourishes reveal themselves, despite how much crud and foul gore they’re covered in. Begrime Exemious know how to write a good song, and this new material is some of their best. Across a range of murderous paces and grim moods, Begrime Exemious have vomited out their strongest collection of songs to date.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 