Worship Metal Album Of The Week – Exumer – The Raging Tides

Source // metalblade.com

If 2015 was a great year for thrash then 2016 is shaping up to be an absolute monster!

Exumer’s follow up to their excellent 2012 effort Fire And Damnation (not discounting their fearsome 80’s output of course) is a violent, speed-obsessed lesson in how shockingly effective teutonic thrash can truly be.

Tighter than Scrooge’s wallet at christmas, Exumer have never sounded this charged, this focused and so capable of thrashing our tits clean off. Revealing itself to be an album that’s thrillingly nothing more than a straight-up blast of classic thrash – fortified with whip-crack rhythms and an intense focus on all out raging attack – Exumer toy with tempo on occasion but emphasise simplified Exodus-like battery for the most part. 

Deeply rooted in Germany’s thrash foundations but also acknowledging the bay area’s unparalleled contribution, Exumer even cheekily tip their hat to classic Sepultura with the opening riff of “The Raging Tides” uncannily recalling the Sep’s “Arise“. Not that this is a problem. In fact, it all contributes to giving the album that ‘classic’ sound; warped in from the late ’80’s/early ’90’s to remind us all how ridiculously satisfying this kind of thrash will always be.

“Catatonic” pummels proficiently – Steve “Zetro” Souza vocal patterns bouncing around some steady mid-paced Slayer riffing – culminating in a gloriously simple, head-banging experience. It’s highly addictive and showcases Exumer’s knack for writing the most criminally effective thrash songs we’ve heard in an age.

Ever more frantic rhythms jostle with perfectly pitched solo’s on each and every track, The Raging Tides maintaining a furious pace throughout and once the balls-out crunch of album closer “Death Factory” has stomped you into submission you’ll be gasping for breath.

There’s no turning back this raging tide, Exumer have stormed the beaches with an utterly essential thrash purchase; raging indeed! 9/10