This is the fourth album from Exhumation, an Indonesian death metal band.
Wow, it’s been a long time since I encountered Exhumation. Ten years ago in fact, on their debut album Hymn to Your God, which I enjoyed very much. Well, catching up with the band is long overdue, so let’s take a look at the 38 minutes of death metal on Master’s Personae and see what they’re up to.
Master’s Personae is death metal that walks a path between outright brutality and esoteric atmosphere. The band channel a particular subset of the ancient death metal gods, (Autopsy, Morbid Angel, etc.), but have their own personality within this. This is an accomplished collection of tracks that has obviously had a lot of time and experience poured into it. Nonetheless, it still sounds absolutely savage.
The vocals are passionately well-performed, and unusual for death metal in that they’re a loose collection of ragged growls, roars, shriek, howls, screams, and other strange vocalisations. It’s more the sort of delivery you’d hear in black metal than death metal these days, but makes sense when you consider Exhumation’s sources of influence. Generic growling this is not.
Exhumation have a predilection for atypical riffs and obscure melodies, both of which, (along with the idiosyncratic vocals), help to give the music a feel that’s somewhere between feral, intricate, psychedelic, and some form of occult manifestation. The music is soaked in emotive impact and atmospheric presence. The songwriting is tight and well-considered, despite frequently giving the impression that it’s all a chaotic vortex of darkness. I really like the careful balance of mood-focused control and near-frenzied mayhem that is the calling card of Master’s Personae.
With a satisfying production that allows the music to be itself, and a personality that is confident in being on full display, Master’s Personae is a rewarding record. Exhumation have come a long way since their beginnings, and it’s great to see the powerhouse they have become.
Highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 