Slaughter in the Vatican

For some inexplicable reason, I mistakenly associated Exhorder with Demolition Hammer in my youthful years of entering the more explicit, thrash metal sounds. However, to justify myself, I must point out that here we have the same debut date and equally modest discography from the first period of activity, the later transition into groove metal, but also not very well located time of release when death metal pushed thrash metal into the background. Anyway, the beginnings of Exhorder date back to 1985, while the official debut in the form of "Slaughter In The Vatican" (not to be confused with the demo from 87) was only 5 years later. It was then that Kyle Thomas, Vinnie LaBella, Jay Ceravolo and Chris Nail's talent for writing rather aggressive and venomous hits first emerged.

At the times of their debut, Exhorder did not have much in common with groove metal, which is often talked about in the context of this group and the general takeover of this style on a much larger scale by Pantera. "Slaughter In The Vatican" is dominated by fast, compact thrash metal with occasional medium tempos. What may be most associated with the supposed groove here is Kyle's quite charismatic, screaming singing a bit in a heavy metal manner, although the classically thrash metal vocals is also present on "Slaughter...". Moreover, these few simpler, slightly catchier riffs or - generally - slower tempos do not erase the essence of Exhorder's style at that time - aggressive, wild and intense, typical of a furious version of thrash.

Regardless of these genre divisions, the most important thing on "Slaughter In The Vatican" is the music. And this one looks great, has the right aggressiveness and also has a lot of dynamics. The guitars and drums move with considerable panache and finesse, Kyle spits out words at the speed of a machine gun (the ending of "Desecrator" - total hit!) or sings impressively (which, combined with explicit lyrics of Catholic absurdity, enhances the brutality of the album), the solos are killer with their speed, the bass adds small inserts to the general aggressiveness (Vinnie and Jay are responsible for these parts), and the whole thing is led by a selective, yet rough sound. In this situation, basically every song can be an example, because they maintain a high level and degree of aggression, both the longer "The Tragic Period", the title track or "Desecrator", as well as shorter songs like "Homicide", "Exhorder" or "Anal Lust". Well, as for the last of the mentioned songs, the band tried to amusingly omit the text from the booklet under the pretext that the lyrics was too brutal for printing and to figure it out for yourself. Well, even then, the topic may have seemed a bit exaggerated, but that does not detract from the expressive power of this song. In fact, the entire album.

Therefore, Exhorder's debut still makes a very positive impression and delights with its compositions, not significantly inferior to the extreme competition of that time. "Slaughter In The Vatican" contains the very essence of such music - pure aggression, heaviness and wildness. It's possible that if this album had been released a little earlier, Exhorder's debut would have been listed right behind the epochal albums by Dark Angel, Exodus or even Slayer.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

This album from start to finish is a never-ending amazing guitar riffs, leads, vocals and production quality that is top notch! This is a MONUMENTAL RELEASE. Within the thrash arena, these guys I'm sure battled with the Bay Area thrash metal bands back in the day. They sure as heck know how to grind it out with some truly amazing guitar they didn't or don't have a huge history of albums but I still think that they have some intriguing sounds coming out of these speakers! I wouldn't think rating this any less than a perfect score. They nailed it all the way through. I wouldn't say that they are thrash/groove, I'd say mostly thrash.

The vocals compliment the guitar work and the most invigorating part of the album is the guitar work. They just hit home all the way in this department. Being a time where thrash was paving its way into the metal community with bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Death Angel, et al. Exhorder has this unique style of guitar-work that really keeps the listener interested all the way through. The crunch tone guitars are just amazing. And the production does the band justice. The leads were amazing too, and I think this guitar work is something that cannot be duplicated.

I wouldn't want the band to change anything about this release. They really show maturity from early on. I'm not into the lyrics but the vocals go well alongside the music. It's not whiny or annoying. The vocals, that is. The music is the best thrash from the day, aside from what Metallica put out in the 80's. The music is just simply insurmountably amazing. And the fact that I didn't discover this band up until recently is a shame. These guys are just simply amazing musicians. They're album 'Slaughter In the Vatican' is going to remain one of the best releases in early 1990's. Sick as all hell!

If you haven't heard this band or this album, I urge you to do so immediately! This is one of the best thrash releases from back in the day when thrash was just getting a liking to the metal arena. These guys bring home one big MONUMENT. I see no flaws in this album or any of these songs. I'm urging listeners of metal music to get this if you haven't it's 30 years old now!! Help them keep the faith in thrash metal and you can be a sure follower of this group, even if it is just this album from theirs. I'm sure they'd be flattered at the fact that you took time to invest in their efforts! Long live Exhorder!

Given that the point of groove metal was often to be as bruising as possible, it only makes sense that one of its progenitors in thrash was also fixated solely on being as punchy and brutish as possible. Enter Exhorder, the band that is widely seen as the band that beat Pantera to Pantera's sound. This isn't exactly correct since this isn't really a groove metal album, so much as a thrash album with a lot of rough, groovy riffs and some prominent slower, more crushing passages sprinkled throughout this otherwise lightning-paced battery of bludgeoning. This album sounds much more akin to the dark, extra heavy thrash of Demolition Hammer, Sadus, and Dark Angel than most of the 90s groove bands. Bottom line, this is thrash that's trying to be heavier and more punishing than the thrash that came before, and if that involved adding some sledgehammer groove sections to further emphasize their mean-ness, so be it. It succeeds to a degree, though it's easy to see how rough and immature this album was both on terms of lyrics and the instruments themselves.

Of course, the influence between the two bands is there, most notably with how Phil Anselmo adopted Kyle Thomas' style of singing from Exhorder's demos and how similar the two sound on here. The guitars are a different story as it's hard to draw parallels between this and Pantera. Dime was all about emphasizing his riffs to the biggest extent he could, making them the focus of the song with how crunchy and stomping they were. Everything moves so much faster here, and the riffs are much more densely packed. Listening to this thing feels a lot like getting caught in a cattle stampede where every bull manages to bash its horns against your bones. This aggression is distilled into a few choice moments throughout the album where it all comes to a head like the chaotic, squealing solo that closes out “Homicide” or the continued escalation in speed and descending riffage that defines the final minute of “Desecrator”. These moments are satisfying payoffs for the listener that really round out the thrash barrage. There’s also the matter of Exhorder getting much longer, more involved, and slightly more diverse riff-wise for “The Tragic Period” and “Slaughter in the Vatican” which are big songs that surprisingly don’t wear out their welcome. In fact, these songs make great use of buildup through use of dark intros such as the wind and an acoustic guitar on the former, and a mimicry of a chant of the latter before both launch into crushing, swinging sledge grooves that show the buildup is going into next gear before letting loose all hell with more rapid-fire barrages bound to send whatever pit was being started by the buildup riffs into a bloody frenzy. Even if the riffs fly by a bit too fast to catch them, they still pack a bone-cracking kick. Also, hearing Kyle Thomas screaming “Hear the toll of the iron bells” in demonic double-layers at the end of “The Tragic Period” while the guitars rumble beneath him at rapid pace is chilling and beyond satisfying.

With all that being said, Slaughter in the Vatican is not a perfect album. It does suffer quite a bit from immaturity, blunted production, and too much directionless enthusiasm. First off, the mix isn’t something that accentuates this album’s better qualities very much and it ends up blunting it somewhat. Scott Burns’ production job on here is thick with bass, but it isn’t clear enough for that bass to be a benefit to this album. It makes a lot of the guitars sound muffled, blockier, and not as hard-hitting. It also doesn’t help when a lot of the riffs on here are so densely packed and so fast paced that you end up forgetting a lot of them when the song that they’re on is over. The guitar assault sounds bracing and crushing when you’re listening to it, but only a small number of the riffs on here end up stamping hard enough to stay in my memory with the rest just blasting by me. I wish these riffs were easier to remember instead of getting lost in the bruising battery that is this album. Likewise, some of these lyrics are just silly. I bawled out laughing when Kyle Thomas just had to belt out the phrase “I’ll make you… EAT MY SHIT!” on “Desecrator” or when he goes into really visceral descriptions of violent sex in “Anal Lust” yet still has to say “butt” instead of “ass” on what is arguably the most vulgar, yet disposable song on this album. While Slaughter in the Vatican has its problems with lacking memorability and substandard production, you may not really care all that much while getting battered bloody by Vinnie LaBella and Jay Ceravolo with their twin guitar assault.

Pioneering? Maybe. A masterpiece? Not really. Damn good, aggressive fun? Oh yeah. Slaughter in the Vatican and its groovier undertones and trudging builds definitely make it one of the chunkier thrash metal albums to come out around the end of the genre’s heyday. It brought another kind of physicality and brutishness to the genre that made the experience of listening to it feel like a mass trampling. The Pantera comparisons are somewhat substantiated even though this is considerably faster and not as accessible. Even so, Exhorder are their own band and deliver more than enough menace and pummeling guitar barrages to make Slaughter in the Vatican feel worthwhile with a satisfying crunch. These guys might get too carried away with combining sheer speed with bruising grooves to bother with being catchy, but that makes it all the more insane and all the more fun to lose yourself in Exhorder’s fury.

Exhorder is one of those bands which has benefited greatly from both the internet and the wayback machine of a modern thrash audience craving for genuine sounds from the genre's Golden Age of explosion and expansion, circa about 1985-1991. I remember picking up this tape at the local mall when it came out, largely because of its logo, artwork, and R/C records association, and giving it a few spins before setting it aside and not bothering with it except for the occasional relisten to figure out what it was that did not quite grab me in the first place. The name was mentioned in passing by a few friends, articles, radio shows, but 1990 was right on the threshold of thrash metal's popularity waning; not that it would go down without a few masterpieces that year, or ever truly vanish, but even the better records coming out were often ignored by a mainstream hesher populace that seemed satisfied with 1-4 of their 'Big Four', and at most a handful of others, before tuning over to their glam metal, or Ozzy and Dio and Sabbath, Maiden and Priest. But fast forward 15-25 years, and groups like Exhorder, Demolition Hammer and Morbid Saint find themselves with an entire new fan base mixed in with a lot of those 'oh yeah, I remember them' sorts and remaining diehards.

I am not among these, because frankly, try as I might, I don't feel any stronger about this album now than I did back when it initially dropped. There are certainly some technical aspects to Slaughter in the Vatican that I admire. This was forceful, energetic thrash, much heavier than what the more popular bands were pulling off, very much in league with a Dark Angel or Sadus. There are loads of riffs, and enough variety to pad out substantial 5-6 minute tracks without resort to banal repetition. And then of course there's the 'charismatic' and unique vocal style which Kyle Thomas brought to the table, known as a massive influence upon Pantera's Phil Anselmo who, when shifting away from his 80s power metal screaming, really popularized this style of Southern swagger and tough guy oomph. And while I've seen this debated often, I think it's rather obvious...listen to Pantera while Exhorder were releasing their demos. Listen to Pantera once they made the shift to Cowboys from Hell, and got the drop on this debut. He's absolutely been 'touched' by what he heard from his Nola friends. Not to the point where it's a complete copy, and in fact I thought Anselmo did a better job wrenching some attitude and emotion from the style, as the band's success would attest, but there it is. I'd also say that some of the thicker grooves used by the Texans were inspired by particular Exhorder riffs, but ultimately Dimebag was a more dynamic and distinct player than Labella or Ceravolo here.

And about those riffs...well, they're one of the primary reasons I've never been feeling this. All the guitar parts in general, as hammering and proficient as they are played, sounded like a rather generic hodgepodge of material that bands like Exodus, Dark Angel, Sacred Reich, Sepultura and Devastation had already unleashed upon the populace. Don't get me wrong, they are dextrous and intricate enough to exhibit that more thought had been placed into them than your garden variety Metallica clones gigging at high school talent shows, but I'll be damned if not a single one of the considerably huge array of guitar riffs on Slaughter in the Vatican stick with me for even five minutes. Whether bursting out into faster material or the denser, groove/thrash in verses to tunes like "Desecrator" (a song Pantera was clearly fond of), I just get bored hearing it again. Even when some small pattern of notes begins to align with the aural pleasure centers of my being, they'll switch it off into something else less interesting. Add to that the relative lack of good bass lines, since the very notion of that instrument seemed like an afterthought that the guitarists just played themselves, and not an independent voice that might add a little swerve and meat to the propulsive palm muting. It's frustrating, because these gentlemen could. fucking. play. Just nothing that memorable, and all the leads also feel pretty skimpy or throwaway.

The drums anchor down the belligerent pacing and muscle of the rhythm guitars rather well, but they lead me to another of my issues here...even as a teen, I could tell this was a Scott Burns mix without needing to read it in the booklet. And Burns is a guy I found very inconsistent. He's done some albums I truly love, and others which almost feel muffled and neutered by his presence (Sepultura's Arise and the first couple Deicide discs come to mind). I get that he was sort of the 'house engineer' for a lot of the Roadrunner/RC classics, and he absolutely knocked a few of them out of the park, but I just don't like some of the mix or the guitar tones he gets on albums like this one. They feel too subdued and compressed. Slaughter is not an egregiously bad example of this, but it's enough of a factor that my old cassette gathered a lot of dust until. Lastly, as much as I can appreciate Kyle's style and influence, I just wan't too into the inflection of the vocals here. Their delivery was not unfamiliar to me (I owned Cowboys from Hell already), and there's a charisma to them that a lot of run of the mill thrashers lacked, but they're about 50/50 in effectiveness for me, whereas his protegee was superior at making them seem enormous and angry, like a school bully about to pop you one on the nose. Some of the lyrics are passable, like "The Tragic Period" about Edgar Allen Poe... EXCEPT for the stupid "Anal Slut", which is beyond awful, and it creates a bit of an obnoxious aesthetic disparity to be leaping back and forth between the two on the same album.

Ultimately, going back to Slaughter in the Vatican for another round didn't yield to me the sort of cult classic that I've seen so much fawning over. It's just nothing I'd queue up when I've got so many other options I prefer. That said, it's also not an album I can find a lot to mock or complain about...apart from lyrics like "Fuck your brains out/squeeze your tits/blood on your thighs/virginity dies" which seem like a budding bucktoothed parallel to Cannibal Corpse, but unwilling to go the brutal distance. "Lust/anal lust/up the butt/lousy slut". Oh, the BUTT. I thought yous guys was referring to that other kind of anal. Sodomy overture aside, this is a competent debut, with no effort spared, that simply doesn't click with me. Accomplished, practiced mediocrity which doesn't yield even a single song I need to hear again.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The forefathers of groove metal's debut album, "Slaughter in the Vatican," was a landmark in thrash metal history and is one of the most overlooked albums to ever be released.  Not only was it incredibly influential, it was, and still is, a really badass album.

So there's this whole deal between Pantera and Exhorder and who stole who's sound.  The answer is this: no one stole anyone's sound.  In 1987, Exhorder released their second demo, "Slaughter in the Vatican."  This demo contained seven out of the eight songs seen on the 1990 album (the album of the same name that this review is about).  In other words, while Pantera was still writing glam metal, Exhorder were writing the fundamentals for groove metal.  I do not think Pantera stole Exhorder's sound, but I do believe that it inspired Pantera's sound that they are known for.  After all, there are connections between the two bands, some members being friends and all.

The album starts out with "Death in Vain," a song about being buried alive.  The song is thick and layered with riffs and intense drumming.  These themes are seen throughout the entire album.  A lot of people don't like these riffs, saying they're too fast and unoriginal.  I don't think these people actually listened to the album because I enjoy every riff on this release, and that isn't common.  Every detail was clearly thought out by the band and this album even dabbles in technicality at times.

I mentioned technicality.  Yes, Exhorder are fairly technical.  I mean, their music is multi-layered thrash metal with guitar leads all over the place.  The bass can be heard at times, especially when he spends time on the higher frets (obviously).  I feel like this style of bass playing adds more to the technical aspects of the album.  The whole things flows nicely, not letting the technicality get in the way or replace their ambition.  In other words, it's not overpowering at all, and it makes the music sound much better.

Another notable area of this album are the drums.  Oh, boy, the drums are amazing.  I must say that Chris Nail is my favorite drummer, solely because of this album because it sounds like even the drums have their own riffs.  What I mean by this is that, let's say that in a song on this album, the guitarist plays a riff four times over four measures.  Pretty typical, right?  And, usually, the drummer would do the same.  On this album, as the guitarist plays the same riff four times, Nail plays different drum fills each time, only to then repeat that sequence after four measures.  This can be seen in "Desecrator" and "Slaughter in the Vatican."  This effect gives the song more groove (no shit) and overall more depth.  As well as more flavor because it gives the listener something new to listen to while the guitar keeps repeating things.

The bass is great, the guitar is amazing, the drums are amazing too, and the vocalist is... also amazing.  In conclusion, every band member is doing his part perfectly and to its fullest potential.  This is what makes this album so great: everything is fluent, and everything sounds perfect.  There isn't one problem on this album that I can find, and I tend to nit-pick.

Each song is masterfully crafted.  The structure of each song has its own tone of aggression and dabblings in sadism and anti-Christianity, making the songs even more aggressive.  I mean this album is the most genuine groove metal album ever.  I feel like most groove metal acts force the "macho" and "manly man" acts (I'm looking at you, 5FDP).  Exhorder don't force it at all.  It's very natural sounding aggression much like Lord Worm from Cryptopsy.  I like to think that this album is the "None so Vile" of thrash because of its extreme and raw aggression.  The guitar tone is harsh, the vocals are rough and angry, and the production is gritty enough to add to the overall effect of brutality.

To me, this is the pinnacle of groove metal.  Exhorder was the first groove metal band, and will always hold a special place in the history of metal.  You can catch them on tour sometime this summer, as they recently reunited in November 2017.  I know I'll be trying to see them.

Overall Rating: 100%

Originally written for themetalvoid.wordpress.com

Louisiana's own metal lunatics Exhorder were one of the definitive authorities of the late-era thrash epoch. After four grueling years of constant touring, demoing and writing, the band have sent ripples through the underground metal community with the release of what may be the crowning achievement of the then prominent death-thrash style – their sadistic 1990 masterwork “Slaughter in the Vatican”. If you are wondering what the album sounds like, “Slaughter in the Vatican” combines the intricate riffing mastery and the vicious thrash savagery of albums like “Arise”, “Darkness Descends”, “Coma of Souls”, and the later released “Epidemic of Violence” with all the subtlety of a four-way head on train collision. While not as well known as the bands that released those albums, Exhorder equals the best of them.

Of course, the album has a strong death-thrash feel to it, much like that of Demolition Hammer or Sepultura around the time of this album's release. However, this is largely more due to the Morrisound production than it is the playing style. Yes, there are some death-metal inspired tremolo picked riffs here and there, the lyrics can be gory and violent, and the blast beats and double-bass drumming gives most death-metal drummers a run for their money, but the album has much higher concentrations of hardcore-punk influences to its thrash template than it does death metal. This unique combination of thrash, death, and hardcore helps give “Slaughter in the Vatican” its signature aesthetic. For the production, producer Scott Burns cast a recording sound comparable to Obituary's “Cause of Death” and Demolition Hammer's “Tortured Existence”. Most notable is the now legendary guitar tone, who’s massive chainsaw characteristics have the right balance of searing treble and warm bassiness. Although the band members themselves seemed to have been dissatisfied with the processed, ultra-compressed death metal production, wishing for the more “raw” and “live” feel of the demos, the sheer heaviness and viciousness simply cannot be understated.

A prominent aspect of Exhorder's style on “Slaughter in the Vatican” is their maniacal, near lack of constraint. Sporadic and volatile thrash breaks amidst a sea of ever-changing riffs and pulsating, serrated rhythms above relentless, death-metal inspired drumming abound. Because of this, Exhorder have more in common with Arise-era Sepultura, Kreator, and Dark Angel than they do Machine Head, Lamb of God, or Pantera. For you see, there were no three-chord riff spamming or tough-guy posturing to be found. Spiraling, unconventional song structures brimmed with dizzying arrays of complex thrash riffs, unexpected tempo changes, jagged rhythms, and consistently virtuosic performances on all parts is what sets this band apart from the more simplified groove-metal style the band is often unfairly and inexplicably dropped into.

Professionally trained drummer Chris Nail proves his strengths right out of the blocks by showcasing one of the best drumming debuts this side of Gene Hoglan. Thrashing his way through the album with relentless death-metal inspired drumming, Chris showcases laser precision drum lines at even the fastest tempos and the highest complexities. Even when the tempos slow down, he never resorts to simplistic drum patterns, keeping the bass drums constantly busy regardless. Just listen to galloping double bass acrobats scattered throughout more mid-tempo sections in songs like “Desecrator” as well as the title track. His drums have the trademark Morrisound triggered click to them, but they are still immensely heavy and high in the mix.

The guitar wielding maniacs Vinnie LaBella and Jay Ceravolo have an unspoken gift for writing ambitious, riff-happy thrashsterpieces. Almost every song contains an impressive repertoire of riffs - the opening track “Death in Vain” alone has more riffs than most metal bands could dream of at the time. And these songs are not just messy clusters of riffs either, as they are intelligently crafted. The riffs are continuous and seamlessly flow into the next with minimal repetition, having the successive alterations in tempo and rhythm drive the pieces forward opposed to relying on repetitive verse-chorus formats. The guitar work often has an affinity for delivering surging, rhythmic drives; combining syncopated, note-happy fret acrobats with hyper-rapid, Slayer-inspired tremolo picked madness. Often there is a subtle galloping picking style to carry the more uptempo rhythms. On the more extreme end, the riffs come close to the brink of death-metal inspired dementia, as heard during the unhinged battery of grooves during the last minute and 20 seconds of “Desecrator”. More conventional groove-metal elements such as held chords, single-note rhythms and start-stop patterns as well as effects such as pinch-harmonic squeals and whammy bar abuse are minimal; these traits are often used just for dramatic effect – such as in the imposing and chills-inducing beginning of the aforementioned song. Their solos don't stand out as much, and are often nothing more than the fluttering chromatic shredding not too far removed from Kerry King. However, the solos (as well as the riffs) can sometimes come off as bluesy and expressively searing – just listen to the ones in “Homicide”. Bassist Andy Villaferra left the band before the recording of this album, leaving the bass duties to be split amongst the guitarists. For the most part the guitarists kept Andy's bass nuances that were heard on the demo, yet the bass guitar is not really that high in the mix to really matter.

The real icing on this divine, mountainous thrash cake is the vocal performance from the rabid, hardcore-inspired syllable-spewing madman Kyle Thomas. The gruff, baritone nature of the vocals can conjure up something of a much more pissed-off, hardcore-punk influenced Max Cavalera, with the subtle melodic control of James Hetfield or Tom Araya. While he rapidly shouts the unhinged masses of lyrics left and right like Don Doty or Ron Reinhart of Dark Angel, he also displays a musical confidence and talent hidden beneath the base level of insane vocal machine gun fire. Having penned the lyrics with guitarist Vinnie LaBella, they are often raunchy as hell and plain don't give a fuck. Often Kyle takes on a first person narrative of oppressive religious authority, snarkingly mocking their high and mighty overtones. This is best seen on the track “Desecrator”. More often the lyrics deal with the love for crime and violence and the take-down of organized religion, as heard on “Homicide” and the title track respectively. Although the lyrics are well made, some people not familiar with the album may find the extremely over the top violent subject matter a tad silly, especially compared to their more lyrically mature album “The Law”. On the other hand, “Legions of Death” and the Edgar Allen Poe inspired “The Tragic Period” both have dark, though provoking lyrics and vocals that take a break from the overall theme of crime and gluttony for instilling pain.

All of the virtues that make this album so formidable are concentrated into the colossal thrash giants “Desecrator” and “The Tragic Period”; both of which contain lengthy, ambitious introductory sections. The former contains an array of lethal, mid-paced sections which slowly progress, culminating into a climactic thrash attack half-way through. “The Tragic Period” starts out with an enigmatic clean guitar section which show the guitarists' strengths in writing more atmospheric parts, a talent that is later expanded on their next album “The Law”. However, around the one-minute mark, any hint of subtlety is gone, as the listener is plunged into a frenzied, riff-dense Frankenstein's monster of many twisted ideas. Both of these songs stretch past the six-minute mark, and are the most ambitious, well-crafted, and craziest songs on the album. Together, these two songs pack on enough riffs that could write another album over, and most bands would have simply given up half way through the writing process.

“Homicide”, “Legions of Death”, and “Anal Lust” are shorter, more structurally-constrained compositions, giving way to more brute energy and condensed rage. “Homicide” and “Anal Lust” are both seething orbs of intensive anger, and are possibly the raunchiest songs on the album, musically and lyrically. This foils the catchy and somewhat slower “Legions of Death”, which shows off somewhat atmospheric vocals and instrumentals which often drone ominously in the background. Although the song is sometimes slower and sticks out from the rest of the album in its unique character, it is by no means cleared from the complex thrash madness that is the rest of the album.

“Death in Vain”, “Exhorder”, and “Slaughter in the Vatican” are multi-limbed riff adventures – featuring a great deal of varying riffs and creative song writing. While they may be somewhat more middle of the road in terms of intensity and length (save for the 7+ minute title track), they feature a little bit of everything the album has to offer – from the ambitious song structures to the psychotic thrash breaks injected in between the more mid-paced and hefty riffage. Additionally, these songs house some of the most memorable riffs on the album, such as the unforgettable opening sections of “Death in Vain” and “Exhorder”. The title track may be the band's calling card, in which all of the band's virtues are crystallized, and is the song they will be most remembered by.

There is no such thing as a perfect thrash album, but this comes pretty damn close. In my opinion, “Slaughter in the Vatican” is one one of the heaviest and raunchiest thrash albums ever released, and is one of my all-time favorites. It was my first thrash album outside the big four, and is one of the albums that helped launched me into the realm of more extreme metal. For those who love the hyper-fast, riff-dense thrash of Dark Angel, Slayer, Sepultura, and Demolition Hammer, this one is for you. Often being seen as a definitive bookend to thrash's reign during the 90's as well as an unintentional start of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, SITV is nothing but essential.

“Legions of death will leave you crucified...”

All anybody ever wants to talk about is how Pantera copied Exhorder's brand of thick, tough-guy thrash metal, but really, those arguments are all off the mark. Aside from that not being true, I rarely ever see anyone actually addressing the elephant in the room with this.

That elephant being: Exhorder was never all that good in the first place.

Oh, don't get me wrong – this is decent, not unpleasant to listen to. It's got some cool riffs and the music is certainly relentless in its high energy. I just don't think that makes it great. Most of the actual interesting quality about this comes from the guitar tone – a monolithic, sludgy wall of noise that makes the riffs sound like battle tanks rolling over your goddamn corpse. That's easily the best thing about the album, the guitar tone. The riffs are pretty good, sure, but they aren't that fucking good – not good enough to make the songs enjoyable, anyway. They're pretty standard 80s thrash riffs delivered with a more brutal than usual production job, but nothing especially great and certainly not some lost classic set of riffs. The vocals are okay, but really don't stand out much; just kind of a dry, throaty rasp that doesn't ever catch your attention by sounding either very venomous or very catchy in any way.

Most of the time these songs just kind of thrash along aimlessly, the riffs building up to what sounds like a climax, but then you check and you're only halfway through a song. The guitars keep on hacking away after that, but the songs all sound exactly the same, and there's no real melody flashes to keep things interesting – which, yes, even the more brutal bands that came later had some semblance of. This just comes out to kind of a mish-mash of pretty good riffing without the songwriting chops to keep me entertained for a whole song, let alone the whole album. Riffs are fine and well, but come on, do something else with them besides just hack away bluntly.

I'm not trying to say this is bad, but it isn't good either – it's sort of just in the middle, a somewhat adequate album of 80s thrash with one distinct element in the production job. Otherwise, not much else to really talk about in terms of its quality. Pantera had a similar sound in a very, veeeeery surface-level way in terms of the vocals and the guitar tone, but they wrote songs very differently, and got big instead of Exhorder because they wrote catchier, more memorable and all around better music. Plain and simple.

Its pretty well assured that if a thrash band released its debut album after 1986, they were guaranteed to be overlooked in most quarters. At best, these bands would be able to create some kind of cult following, such as bands like Vio-Lence, Forbidden, or Dover Trench. Exhorder falls into this category, since their first full-length never saw the light of day until 1990 and the band itself imploded a few years later after the release of a second album. With a career such as this, would might be thinking this was a one shot band like the aforementioned Dover Trench, releasing a decent listen or two then being absorbed by darkness and then disappearing into heavy metal obscurity.

Truth be told, I would be willing to cite Exhorder as one of the most underrated thrash acts ever assembled under the genre's name. For some strange reason, I've noticed this band is missing from several "Best Of" thrash compilation lists, with this album in particular being neglected. The only reason I can figure for this is the late timing of the band, who caught thrash at the very tail end of the genre's prominence. As far as the genre was concerned, any band who released their debut after 1988 was guaranteed to be left behind, as the times were changing far too fast for them to keep up or simply be left behind by those jumping ships to an inferior breed of music.

As many other writers here have noted, this album does superficially remind one of various elements off "Reign In Blood" and "Darkness Descends" which obvious differences between both them. I won't spend much time comparing this band to Dark Angel as there are obvious differences, to speak nothing of the rabid loyalists who often get up in arms over discussing their favorite band. The guitar tone here is completely devastating, not entirely unlike Demolition Hammer's own "Tortured Existence" released this very same year. Its probably one of the heaviest guitar tones I've heard out of a thrash band, at least as far as this year in particular in concerned. None of this is too surprising, this band being from New Orleans and this was around the time many bands there were going for a much heavier guitar sound, though by contrast most of them were slowing down taking their cues from Black Flag and Saint Vitus for their creative direction.

One of the more interesting things about this album is its correlation to its succeeding release in "The Law." While that album was basically a successful experiment implementing both thrash metal's and groove metal's better elements with little of the stagnating flaws of the latter, "Slaughter in the Vatican" is a logical predecessor to that album. There is a few doses of skull crushing groove to be heard here, particularly the tracks "Exhorder" and the title track, the latter of which seems like a pretty successful merger of the two styles with an epic sounding intro. Most of the material here, however is pure straight-forward blitzkrieg thrash such as "Legions of Death," "Descretor," and the face splitting "Homicide." I would also mention that Kyle Thomas is as important to this album as the guitars are, quite possibly cultimating into one of the most acidic performances I've heard out of a thrash singer. Perhaps its the production or perhaps his own aggressive power, but it truly sounds impeccable here for the majority of the listen.

Considering an album superior to those like "Terrible Certainty," "Reign In Blood," or even "Darkness Descends" can cause mass controversy in the thrash metal world, no doubt about it. For various reasons, be it a better quality production sound or simply better riffs, I prefer this album to all three. Its fast, but unlike the famed "Reign In Blood" doesn't come off as maddeningly incomplete and sports a heavier production standard than "Darkness Descends," which ultimately allows the experience to be more enjoyable. For the year 1990, few albums could challenge this one and in terms of sheer blitzkrieg fury with choice implementation of pure crushing mid-tempo stomps, I couldn't find one any higher on the food chain. Definitely one of the greatest of the last wave of thrash albums, from a band who would sadly go the way of the dinosaur a few years afterward and continue to be ignored by a fanbase who would likely enjoy everything on here. I recommend this one highly.

Make no mistake, 1990 was a sweet year for metal. "Tortured Existence", "Cowboys from Hell", "Cause of Death", and many, many more albums were released, and all of them ruled. Exhorder was at the top of the heap, with their debut being one of the heaviest, most brutal thrash albums ever to be released. This was a masterpiece of unrelenting decimation, a wrecking ball in musical form. This album rips your face off so hard, that even that one dude who actually ripped off his face while high on PCP has to say "DAMN!"

Take the second track, "Homicide". The first minute is filled with thrashing galore, and is immediately followed by a neck-breaking riff that carries most of the song. In fact, if you even have a neck after listening to this album, I'll be pretty amazed. "Homicide" is one of the best songs on the album, and definitely contains some of the most disturbing lyrics ever written. From the second verse:

"Hang the pope, spill his blood
Leave his body lying in the mud
Rape the whore, bestial lust
Slit her throat cause she's a lousy fuck
See the infant, take it's life
Lick the blood off of the knife"

If that ain't metal, then I don't know what is. The whole album is filled with deliciously evil lyrics like this, and this isn't evil in the "cartoony Satan" sense, but rather, these are the lyrics that take a look into the seriously depraved mind. The music fits these lyrics perfectly, never-ending in its assault on the eardrums that will destroy those who aren't metal enough to handle it.

If I had to pick the best track on the album, I'd have to go with "Exhorder", which is a microcosm of Exhorder's sound on "Slaughter in the Vatican": Crushing, no bullshit thrash with a groove section that would put modern groove to shame. The song ends on a surprisingly amusing note, with the song coming to an end after a furiously fast section, and the guitars stop while the drums keep playing. If you listen closely, you can hear the drummer asking "it just fades out at the end, right?" I believe that was left in to show that, despite the serious nature of the music, that Exhorder were really just a bunch of redneck dudes who just loved playing heavy music, not unlike Obituary. I will say, "Anal Lust" comes close, because it's ludicrous lyric-wise, but also is filled with raw, powerful riffs that will stab you in the chest and run off with your girlfriend. Come to think of it, you could substitute "Anal Lust" for any track on the album, really, because I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best metal albums ever recorded.

It's one of the few flawless albums in my collection, and the fact that Exhorder weren't one of the biggest bands in the genre is a grave injustice. "Slaughter in the Vatican" is one of the most ferocious albums recorded, and if you haven't bothered to check it out, then it's your loss. Everyone else should heed my advice and pick up this album (preferably as part of the "Two From The Vault" series with "The Law" included), because if not, then you're missing out on a classic. If you're a newbie looking to get into metal, you owe it to yourself to get into Exhorder, and I can think of no better place to start. I hope your experience with the heaviest band to come out of Louisiana is a good one, just like mine was when I was 16 years old. And if you don't like this album, then you might have to question whether you really like metal or not, because, without a doubt, this is as metal as metal gets.

Highlights: Every single song

This review was written for http://lavidastrangiato.blogspot.com/

This is one of the heaviest albums i can think off, Everything from the razor sharp guitar tone to the impressive drumming reminds me of "Darkness Descends", The vocal delivery is fast and is pure aggression personified. I've seen this album categorized as "Groove metal" but i seriously don't hear any groove. Apparently this is the album which pantera ripped off but i don't see any similarities either except maybe the vocals..

This isn't as special as most people here seem to make it look like, There is nothing here you haven't heard before. The riffs are heavy and fast as nuts but the solos are strangely unfitting. Ultimately, Nothing really memorable. They are really fast and brutal tracks which are worth a listen every once in a while. I actually prefer the more mid paced songs on this album, "Slaughter in the vatican", The title track is absolutely brutal and is crushing as a hammer blow to the skull. The lyrics are not meant to be taken seriously and neither is this album. I am a big fan of the vocals here, They are intense and much more audible than most other vocalists. The production is just that damn good, It will make you bleed out of your ears if you're not ready for this one.

I don't really dig the guitar solos, They just aren't that original or memorable. This excels in speed and brutality but severely lacks any kind of creativity or intelligence. This is still primitive by nature. I could categorize this into a sea of millions of other mindless thrashers but this is actually a lot better than most of them. If this is a reign in blood clone, It's actually a pretty decent one.

Is this better than 'Cowboys from hell'?, The answer is simple. No. CFH is actually a million miles away. I wouldn't recommend this album, While this is a solid album on it's own right, You've probably heard something like this before and it really isn't a must have. But if you can't have enough of your "Reign in blood" or "Darkness Descends", This will quench your thirst for break-neck speed brutality, Because in the end, It's all about the Thrash!!....

I got into Exhorder sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 and they immediately grew on me. It was the "Slaughter In The Vatican" album that came to blast my ears with ear-candy-thrash-metal not many bands could do equally good. "Slaughter In The Vatican" sounds like a raw kick-ass thrash metal album that totally fills your anus with heavy thrash until you either drop dead or turn up the volume even more. I guess that the album's sound could be described as a mix of Pantera ("Cowboys From Hell" and "Vulgar Display Of Power") and Sepultura ("Beneath The Remains" and "Arise").

Exhorder delivered quality thrash with this album and the opener "Death In Vain" is just awesome. I've rarely heard any album-opener that's equally good and I've probably never heard any album-opener that's better. "Homicide" goes further into the aggressive thrash and I think that it's the song that has the best guitar solo on the entire album. It's totally mindblowing. "Desecrator" is probably my favorite track and it's also on of the less Slayer-fast tunes, focusing more on a heavy metal sound but still with thrash parts. "Exhorder" is yet another fast and furious ass-kicker and has a classic chorus in which Kyle Thomas shouts "Exhooordeeer!!!!" over and over again. "The Tragic Period" has a more heavy (slower) double bass drumming than the previous songs and "Legions Of Death" marks this album's "classic thrash song" award. "Anal Lust" is the shortest and fastest song on the album as well as the bands first song ever. Unfortunatelly, it's my least favorite off this album. The title track is the closer and has a mid-tempo double bass-drumming with pretty slow guitars which reminds me pretty much of Pantera. A great closer for a great album.

The production is what I call "perfect". It's not like the most expensive album ever recorded in any way but on the other hand, metal was never supposed to sound like a Madonna or a Michael Jackson album. It sounds GOOD, it sounds RAW... It sounds THRASH FUCKIN' METAL. Every instrument is placed equally high so nothing's higher than another.

Exhorder have often been compared with Pantera. There's some people who claims that Exhorder stole Pantera's sound and vice versa. I on the other hand is that guy that don't care who stole who's sound. I love both bands and I enjoy both bands albums. Anyway, Pantera had some great musicians and so did Exhorder. Pantera had Dimebag as their best musician and I would probably say that Exhorder's Dimebag is the drummer, Chris Nail. The guitarists (whatever their names was) has put down some great riffing onto this album. Actually, the riffing is AWESOME. Kyle Thomas' vocals reminds me a little of Phil Anselmo which is really cool since I think Phil is one of the best singers in the whole business.

So finally to my last comments on "Slaughter In The Vatican"....

This is an underrated thrash masterpiece that every "true" headbanger should have. This album is what the "experts" call "cult" and it's also one of the best albums ever made... Exhorder's next album "The Law" would be a pretty big let-down for me but that's another story. The thing right now is that you should look up this album and enjoy it with some well done headbangin' 'cause Exhorder deserves it.

Hey, this is a really heavy thrash metal album! Exhorder are one of those bands that, even if they put out some good albums, never reach the popularity they deserved. The period was a bit messy for thrash metal because there was the explosion of death metal and grind, and the classic, main and famous thrash metal bands were becoming always more and more melodic but Exhorder didn’t care about this. This debut is still regarded as one of the heaviest albums ever and, put out in this period, it is even more shocking.

The first thing you can notice here is the guitars tone. It’s crunchy, really heavy and devastating. Probably, along the classic thrash metal distortion, they added a high treble charge on the amplifiers to make it even more death metal oriented. The tempo are fast but not totally uncontrolled and not immature at all. The technique level is quite high and the classic furious palm muting riffage is one of the most important things in this album.

The vocals are quite clear and it’s a thing that I like a lot because contrasted in a perfect way with the heaviness of the sound. They are a bit in Pantera style for the tonality and for the way Kyle sings, but they are far less groovy and more thrash. Songs like “Homicide” and “Exhorder” are a total schizophrenic mixture of up tempo and blasting guitars; while longer songs like “Death In Vain”, “Desecrator” or “Tragic Period” contain more mature and less impulsive parts, especially during the mid paced beginning to restart with the massacre. During those parts, the guitars are full of groove, but the one in old style tradition without stopped chords or things like that.

The lyrics are really violent and against pretty much anything: religion, society and people in general. Returning to the music, the drums are really heavy and pounding, and they are another very important component in their music for the heaviness united to a good sense of variety and groove. The guitars riffs always change from mid paced patterns to faster ones, always without a hint of melody but anyway they so catchy and well done. Sometimes the fury is so high that the drummer plays some blast beats too, but they are no long or annoying. They are just in few sections and last for very few seconds.

Another great song is “Anal Lust”, featuring non sense bass drums triplets and insane up tempo. The riffs are now more punkish and more impulsive. Two minutes of pure insanity. It’s great to hear how the title track begins: a simply priests chorus during a mess. Than, all the anger towards this institution flows in the guitars extreme riffage and the vocals assault, putting an end to one of the heaviest thrash metal albums ever. If you like devastating guitars tone and pounding drums, check this out…maybe on your way to Rome. Kill the Pope!

Exhorder's "Slaughter In The Vatican" is one of those albums that you'd want to hide your wife and children from. This album is a full blown desecration on everything from religion to assholes, and 17 years later, is still thirsty for more. Just look at the cover art. That pretty much sums it up; the pope being dragged to his own death sentence, anal lust, homicide... it's all there, it's all violent, and it's all fucking Exhorder.

This album has plenty of aspects that make it an absolutely killer thrash record. First, it has one of the most deadly guitar tones that still sounds ear piercing today. Of course, Exhorder doesn't rely on a guitar tone for their string section. What we have here are some fucking riffs. Riffs of all kinds. We have thrash riffs in the Vio-Lence/Dark Angel vein, slower, crushing riffs, groove riffs, just about everything you'd want to hear. Exhorder manages to arrange their riffs in an intelligent matter, providing the listener with the most violent experience.

Lyrically, this album is over the top. As mentioned, the lyrics are absolutely violent, and against mostly anything. Lines like "Fuck your god, no regard for religion" certainly set a clear tone for the album. There is much hate towards religion (Slaughter In The Vatican, Homicide), and love towards violent acts (Anal Lust, Desecrator). Each song has their edgy lyrics coupled with equally fierce riffing and pummelling drums. Not to mention that Kyle Thomas has one of the most pissed off voices in thrash. Extremely effective!

Of course, everyone knows that Pantera sounds strikingly similar to Exhorder, from guitar tone, to groove, to lyrics. Pantera just wishes they could've been this tough, violent, and this competent as musicians. Sure, Dimebag could solo, but they could never pull out an album this fierce and well written.

Every thrash fan should own this record. Roadrunner reissued this with 1992's "The Law", so it shouldn't be hard to find, plus you get two great albums. This album has everything to please thrash fans: riffs, violence, and ridiculous lyrics.

Woah! Where did this monster of a thrash album come from?! Everyone says Pantera took thier style? Bullshit, Pantera wishes they were this pissed off and raunchy. This album has as many riffs as "Coma of Souls" and the guitar tone is lethal. This album was recorded in the last days of the thrash movement and is purely insane and brutal. The band plays really really tight, and the production is not watered down the least bit. I could go on forever praising this album, but let's get into the actual songs.

"Death In Vain" starts out with some sound effect and then....80 riffs of all kinds! Midpaced mosh riffs all the way up to fast as fuck speed demon riffs. This guy makes Anselmo seem like a pussy in the vocals department. Next up is "Homicide". I don't really know what to say other than it's like the last track, another 75 riffs in this one. Almost all the songs have a billion riffs in them, but you can easily tell them apart. The soloing has that sloppy feel at times, but steers away from the cat killing massacre of Slayers solos. "Descrator" is for the most part slower than the rest of the tracks, more bludgeoning (at least in the beginning). These are some of the best lyrics I have ever heard, very very memorable and of course the title of the review comes from this song. "Fuck your God, No regard for your religion".......Fuck yes! I would love to strap any Pantera fanboy to a chair and make them listen to this. Eventually the song, becomes amazingly fast, where he talks about the Satanic star and Agnostic beliefs, you'll know what part. And then...about 25 more riffs of the midpaced and fast variety, not to mention everything in between. Next is the crown jewel of the album "Exhorder". Obey the triplets, they own Jon Schaffer any day of the week. This song has two speeds. Fast and fucking REALLY FAST. The riffs smash everything in site and will dig your great-grandmother's corpse up just so she can headbang and die all over again in a shallow grave. "The Tragic Period" is a bit more atmospheric and then...you guessed it! Riffs! about 678518 of them. Not much more to say about that. "Legions of Death" is a bit slower (not really what I would call slow, but slower than the rest of the songs) and has many intresting riff changes as it maintains intrest. "Anal Lust" is the shortest song, and goes through pretty well untill....one guitar starts playing one of the best riffs ever written and the song goes from there. I can't even say anymore. The title track come last and is another awesome thrasher. It ends with a clean guitar and a baby crying.

Look at the front cover! The Pope is going to get his shit ruined, awesome. This has everything you would ever want from a thrash album. Fuck Pantera, they can't rival this. Highlights are definatley "Exhorder" and "Desecrator", but every song is pure pissed off thrash. Buy this, it was reissued with "The Law" by Roadrunner recently. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I don’t see what’s so good about this. Ok, it’s fast as hell, the guitar tone is pretty harsh but this album never amazed me. Why? It lacks any kind of memorability. It’s just a bunch of fast songs without any good riffs, solos or anything else. The only thing you will remember after listening to it is the furious drumming, the only good point here.

A thrash album, among other things, has to be memorable and the main way to achieve that is the riffage. In my opinion, this album completely fails at that. In its whole length, there are very few riffs worthy remembering. The first track has some of them, making it the best track. It’s a furious guitar/drum attack with a decent guitar solo to boot, the song lasting more than five minutes. The next track has also some decent riffs but that’s about it. Not even the longer songs are that interesting, turning into boring riff fests, tempered with some equally boring midpaced sections that add almost nothing. Sure, the high speed and the occasional good riff makes this interesting to an extent but this is not the only thing I look for in a thrash album. The production is also lacking. It sounds muffled and the instruments’ volume is not well-adjusted: The drums and vocals are far louder in the mix than the rhythm guitar.

All in all, you might get it if you want some fast and mindless thrash. Or, if you want something more, go listen to Demolition Hammer. Much more developed, without losing nothing of its intensity or speed.

Oh, man...when I bought this album years ago, it blew my sorry ass away and still does. Unlike most other thrash releases of this era, when most bands were slowing down and/or being content to rewrite the classic Bay Area sound ad infinitum, Exhorder chose to rev up the engine and take us back to thrash's violent roots. Most of the songs here are just this side of being out of control speed-wise, balanced out with slower and mid paced riffing to rein the lot in, and that is the way good thrash ought to be--homicidal and vicious!

That opener, "Death In Vain"...that ultra-evil guitar tone reels you in helplessly with its dense crunch for the asswhooping that follows. Of course, like every other damn record that came out in this era, Scott Burns produced it, and while as per usual the guitar sound is awesome in its power and dark saturation, everything else sounds like shite. His drum sounds were nowhere near as good, and the bass may as well have never been recorded its presence is so minimal. Well, OK, this album and Terrorizer's "World Downfall" are exceptions to that rule, as you can hear the bass pretty well on this album for once.

"Homicide", "Exhorder", "Descecrator"...the assault is nearly nonstop as they pummel you with riff after riff after riff and frenzed yet precise drumming, and the slower parts feel heavier when they drop because of it. The tune "Legions of Death" lurches with menacing intent out of your speakers, and this is perhaps the only really slow tune on the album, a nice Sabbath-y dirge that offsets the rest of it very well. "Anal Lust" seems a bit of a throwaway, and why bother putting the song on the album if you don't print the lyrics? I think they just did that gratuitously to arouse controversy because you can't understand a word Kyle's saying anyway except for "LUST! ANAL LUST!" Go figure.

Kyle Thomas' vocals are far more venomous than anything Phil Anselmo has ever done, even with Superjoint Ritual, because most everything that comes out of his mouth sounds pretty honkin' pissed off all the time every time. He gets to show off clean vocal prowess at the beginning of the title track in a church choir-sounding bit that rapidly segues into another vigorous ass whooping accompanied by intensely anti-religious sentiments. How can I not like the man for that? (Even if he does support KKK uber-scum like David Duke)

So what are you doing not getting this album? All these retro thrash bands need a dose of aggression and lethality added to their music, and this is the ticket. Get this and do the math, ya'll!

Exhorder will probably go down in history as "the band that Pantera ripped off". This is pretty lame, considering that Slaughter in the Vatican is one of the most intense thrash albums of all time. Indeed, these guys had enough riffs to kill Jesus 14 times over, and a killer vocalist to boot.

Dark Angel comparisons would certainly not be stretching it, although Exhorder at times play even faster (and when I say faster than Dark Angel that's pretty fucking fast). In between bouts of sporadic thrashing, there are solid as hell mid paced groove riffs ( the ones that pantera ripped off), a formula that reminds me of another great texas band, Dead Horse.

Vocalwise, Kyle is fairly reminescent of Ron Rinehart from Dark Angel, but a litte more audible and far more intense. One of the better thrash vocalists to exist, most definitely, and for sure one of the most overlooked. In fact, it's a small wonder Slaughter in the Vatican isn't praised on high, particularly tracks like Homicide, which thrash harder than most would dare.

Standout tracks: homicide, desecrator, the title track, and course, anal lust (OF THE BUTT!). If you dig Reign in Blood or Darkness Descends, this mofo is almost mandatory... on the Law they took a more kill riff approach (in fact that's where most of the Pantera comparisons come in).. this one's pure fucking thrash! Kill a priest and bang your head!

The first thing you'll notice about this album is the really fucking heavy guitar tone - this is almost "Darkness Descends" territory here. Yes, the Dark Angel comparison is pretty apt - this is solid thrash metal, and though it's not quite as fast as Dark Angel, the riff similarity is definitely there.

So apparently Pantera copied this sound ... I don't hear it. Well, I do, by definition, but this album completely runs rings around "Vulgar Display of Power" and "Far Beyond Driven". This is great fucking THRASH here - sure it has that Louisiana sound do it at times, but without ever sacrificing the RIFFS. Yes kids, if you want to write good metal, make sure to include lots and lots of riffs. Now drink your fucking milk and fuck off and die.

Best songs... "Exhorder" is pretty damn good, as is "Desecrator" with its completely over the top lyrics... "I piss on your grave, for no apparent reason!" Also, "Anal Lust", which is the shortest song on here is pretty damn good, and has great riffs under the chorus. The last song, "Slaughter in the Vatican" is more midpaced and crushing and prefers to tear you apart limb from limb, pausing only to forcefeed you entire vats full of acid. Because it can.

Great fucking songs to be found here. It's heavy, it's metal, it fills a particular niche of thrash metal quite well.