Rating: 7.0

Country: Denmark

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Earache/Wicked World

Track list:
1. Flesh Havoc
2. Bitter Disciplin [MP3]
3. The Human Rape Symphony
4. Black Walls of Misery
5. Division of Genocide Pleasure
6. Swamp of Decadence
7. Symbols of Inhumanity
8. Fix of Negativity
9. Graveside Mourning Ritual
10. Parasite Paradise

Total playing time: 32:52

Band Website: Exmortem

Exmortem - Nihilistic Contentment

Martin Sigtyr - Guitars
Andreas - Bass
Simon - Vocals
Michael - Drums

'Nihilistic Contentment' is definitely one you should research very carefully before spending your hard-earned cash on. If you're very into the European technical death metal sound, and enjoy bands such as Theory In Practice and Iniquity, you may enjoy this for a casual listen or two. I certainly don't hate this record. However, if you're more a fan of Exmortem's prior works such as 'Berzerker Legions', then you'd probably be left wanting much more out of this album, and ultimately you'll be fairly disappointed. I tend to fall into both of the aforesaid categories, so I'm on the fence about Exmortem's newest.

Some of the rhythms and guitar are reminiscent of the last two Gorguts albums. In particular, the disconnected and dissonant tone of some riffs, for example, the opening to "Bitter Discipline". This song initially sounds as if it were pulled straight from Gorguts' notes and leftovers from the 'Obscura' album. At other times, it seems to me that the band is trying desperately to emulate Iniquity such as the spastic riffage found in some tracks on the 'Grime' album. Unlike 'Grime' though, there isn't much melody or "groove" to be found here. Exmortem peak in mid song, and deliver us an incredibly brutal riff, then completely abandon it in favour of a weaker, more annoying riff. The vocal intonation at times reminds me of Mads Haarlow, as well. Completely unintelligible low-register screams and grunts, with the occasional mid-high deviation. The difference being that Mads executes this sort of vocal anti-pattern very well. It sounds unique. Simon Petersen, frankly.... he sounds generic most of the time. Unpredictable and charismatic, but still nothing you haven't heard before.

As I stated before, I don't hate this record by any means. There are certain things that warrant at least a few listens from start to finish. Primarily, the production. It's thick and extremely bass-heavy. The guitars and vocals have a way of cutting right through the abundant low-end. Basically, it's everything that a Death Metal production should be in this day and age. This would have been rated a "6.5", were it not for the stellar production. The actual musicianship here is top notch as well. This is starting to sound a little too negative, so allow me to deviate from the bashing for a moment and tell you about some of 'Nihilistic Contentment's finer moments. The bread and butter of this record is concentrated heavily in the middle section, primarily tracks five through eight, with the exception of the useless filler song "Swamps of Decadence". "Division of Genocide Pleasure" and "Fix of Negativity" are definite highlights, falling more in line with Exmortem's prior releases. Despite some irritating guitar noodling, "Symbols of Inhumanity" turns out to be a fairly gratifying tune as well, with a massive riff in the end section that can only result in one thing: Headbanging.

It's not all bad, and you may enjoy this record a great deal more than I do. But I can't say that this will find any long-time spot in my playlist. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I can't say that I am all that taken by the new direction Exmortem seem to be going in... 'Nihilistic Contentment' is listenable for the most part, but ultimately fails to deliver the goods as a whole. I can really only recommend this record to die-hard fans of this band.

April 30th, 2005