Demo 2006

I remember being a little skeptical the first time I visited Begrime Exemious' official myspace, due to the phrase "Canadian Lunatic Hell Metal"; I suspected that it was another generic (or just plain bad) band giving itself a fancy label, such as black horror metal or some such invented genre in order to attract more poor sods into their following. Looking back, I should have suspected that the city that gave birth to such hellspawn as Revenge and Axis of Advance could bring into being this slice of hell.

This is the first demo by this Canadian band, and it consists of four tracks of brutal black metal not really in the vein of anything that's ever been done before. The closest comparison I can pull here is with Arkhon infaustus, and even that's too distant of a comparison to my liking. The riffing could be best described as what would happen if you bred Demilich and Arkhon's guitarwork, which of course means nothing but good. The bass lines are loud enough that you can hear them, unlike your usual "distortion and krieg" black metal, and compliment the guitars very well. The drumming is highly varied and technical, as could only be expected from the drummer of Weapon. The vocals.... I've heard a lot of hellish things since I've started listening to this genre, and this ranks right up there with such things as Paulus Kressman's gravity blasts or Arioch's vocals. The most similar vocals I can think of is those of Cobalt, and tat doesn't do them full justice either; some of the sounds that come out of B.Infector's mouth shouldn't be possible for a human being. The band also makes use of dual vocal work, which I'm a complete sucker for.

If you are a fan or Arkhon Infaustus or Demilich, you would be doing yourself a great disservice not getting this demo in some way. This stuff is just plain cruel to levels that so many bands fail to ever reach. Such savagery can't be emulated; If you can't feel the Driving Force, then you can't play this kind of metal, period. Canadian lunatic hell metal indeed.

Given the sheer amount of bands in the world that seem quite happy to do little more than recycle old formulas that were done to death over a decade ago its always a breath of fresh air to come across a fledgling band who spit in the face of the various cliches that have developed over time and make metal the way they want to make it. While some of these experiments in the avant-garde fail miserably its always incredibly rewarding to come across a band who go above and beyond what is expected and create music of the highest standard. Begrime Exemious are one of these bands. Returning from the ashes of the now defunct Ouroborus, B. Perversor has assembled a great group of musicians who are writing very excellent music at an almost frightening pace and have done an excellent job of recording it here. This demo is very promising and to see how this band develops with future releases is going to be quite exciting.

Its hard to fault any aspect of this demo as everything comes together in an outstanding manner. The material present here carries an air of brutality and aggression that hits the listener right from the start without losing any sense of melody or technicality that is often sacrificed by lesser bands. The band has entirely avoided using smoke and mirrors to sculpt their music. Where lesser music might be content to simply crank up the kick drum, downtune the guitars to the point where all they accomplish is throwing forth a wall of sound with no depth, and have the vocalist belch out some unintelligible mutterings about Satan this, death that, this band has entirely escaped all negative cliches commonly associated with the genre. The guitarists have created incredibly effective riffs which I can only describe as fierce (think Grand Belial's Key brutally sodomizing Demilich while Weakling film everything and you're maybe halfway there). The combination of great technical playing with traditional black metal elements creates a simply breathtaking assault. All the while B. Infector's screams add an element that many metal bands are missing. His ability to add melody without compromising any feel is of the highest caliber, somewhat reminiscent of Von Demonicus' work in Arghoslent. Combined with a very solid rhythm section with an uncanny ability to more or less fade in and fade out of the foreground at the exact perfect times to compliment or highlight the guitars makes for one of the best demos in recent memory. This demo is a 14 minute whirlwind of uncompromising aggression that rips through all preconceived notions of what metal should be.

If theres any complaint I have with this recording its that it seems to end very quickly. After a single listen through its hard to resist throwing it on once more and relive the assault all over again, although how anyone could ever think this is a bad thing is beyond me. Between the dynamic song structures, the brilliant riffs, and the sheer rush of aggression this demo delivers I cannot think of any recording from the last year that has been so effective in creating art of such value. If you've any taste in music what-so-ever make sure you pick up a copy of this release as soon as possible. Its available through witching black records and directly from the band, and for a measly $6 Canadian there really isn't any excuse for not possessing this demo. With bands like Begrime Exemious creating perverse black metal as is highlighted here the future looks very bright indeed. Ignore the trappings of lesser bands looking to peddle novelty upon you, and don't waste your time with those pleased to try and make copies of what the masters have done long ago.

Worship Satan, and obtain this demo.