Liste des groupes Death Metal Exmortis Resurrection ... Book of the Dead

Exmortis as an entity is certainly not new to extreme metal, being originally formed way back in 1987 playing death metal in some of its earliest forms. After a break of more than 10 years, the band reformed with sole original member Brian Werking joining forces with new bassist and drummer Paul and Josh, releasing their first new material in 17 years in the form of their brand new EP, Resurrection... Book of the Dead.

The album starts off hauntingly with Creation, with sounds of children singing and giggling at the background while shrouded in a dark atmosphere and drumming at the background, setting up the mood for the EP. With the title track, Book of the Dead, the EP begins proper and it is immediately obvious that the band has not lost their touch in playing old school death metal. Brian's vocals are still on top form, and sound almost like Martin Van Drunen's works on Asphyx. His touch on the guitars is also not lost, as evident on the numerous lead guitar spots that are littered throughout the EP, mostly chaotic sounding with the shred work yet managing to maintain a sense of melody, such as on Deep Red. Also, on top of the usual death metal-styled riffs, the band has also included some thrash-inspired riffs, and even the songs are at times structured in such a way that it would sound right with a band like Slayer playing them, like on The Slaughter Begins.

That said though, as the EP drags on, it gets slightly boring with the little variation and the few actual memorable moments on the EP, with most of the songs sounding almost similar to each other not only in terms of playing and riffing style, but also the song structures, such as the chugging sections on most of the tracks, in particular on Book of the Dead and And There was Pain, making it sound almost as if the band had run out of ideas, and it leaves me feeling as if it were the same song playing over and over again. No doubt, each of the musicians here are extremely proficient on their instruments, but the quality of the songs on Resurrection... Book of the Dead does not do justice to Exmortis' 24-year legacy.