Impending Funeral of Man

After noticing that these guys were a.) from Canada and b.) signed amongst Dark Descent's roster, I pretty much felt compelled to check them out. Turns out, I did right before this album's release, and when I finally heard it, I was pretty pleasantly surprised by being so impressed at first listen by a band so completely new to me. As far as I know, this has garnered generally positive reviews, and I count among them. This is pretty much what I want to hear in metal, more or less. Of course, I like a wide variety of shades and colors and techniques and styles within my extreme metal, but the point is, is that for one of those supremely visceral listening experiences that seems to perfectly convey all the primal aggression of metal in it's pure, unbridled form, Begrime Exemious are carrying 'the torch' of this particular niche with uncanny style.

And when I say, "Metal in its pure, unbridled form", just what do I mean? Well, I suppose it alludes to my love for bands that brandish admirable genre ambiguity; sounding like the best elements of death, black and thrash metal into one very even but very pure maelstrom of abrasive creativity. I suppose this is necessary to mention, because admittedly, I have a bitch of a time trying to determine just which of extreme metal's three sub-genres this monstrous album falls into. But as I explained earlier, it doesn't matter, because the point is that this is a band who conveys the primal and steadfast passion of metal music purely, which is more like a transcendental essence that any particular theory or technique - something that few bands can really boast in addition to their songwriting. Without bloating the philosophy too much, the simple point is that this album is one of a scant few from a select few artists who seem to truly understand what the genre is all about... or at least what I find essential in it, on a base level.

The music here is very riff-driven (yeah, I know, ninety percent of metal is) but this is one of those instances in which the riffing has a particularly sharp bite to it. It's dominant in the mix, gravely blessed with one of the best guitar tones on any recent metal album - one that reeks with grime (heh) and filth, but retains a perfect balance of heavy clarity and gain. It's one of the more 'common'-sounding tones as heard on several 'black thrash' albums, but at the same time, it doesn't quite resemble any tone I've heard before. Musically, I'd imagine a lot of people comparing this to Angelcorpse, but this doesn't really have quite their subtly epic style, despite the similar militant vibe of the tremolo riffing (albeit with less angular riffing than Gene's). Other parts may remind a listener of Gospel of the Horns or perhaps Necrovore, but due to the rather classical-tinged lead guitar work, this music escapes the traps of generic results. BG have a voice of their own, despite a natural familiarity of the music they're rooted in. Crippling tremolo riffing abounds, with nasty, catchy paroxysms of eighth and twelfth notes scuttling in commanding patterns, accentuated by the wily lead guitar work, steeped in frenzied classical-inspired melodies that actually expand upon the heaviness with delightful variety and intense rigidness. The drumming matches with an intense performance, that trades off between speedy intricacy and solid blasting, depending on the time or verse. Some have complained about them being too low in the mix, but they add just enough punch to sound formidable, though with a solid sense of subtlety that is even within the mix and lets the guitars shine. It's a sound that's ultimately invigorating in its primitivity, admirable in its raw sophistication, and inspiring in its spirit. Minor flaws may present themselves in some of the sameyness of the riffs at times, but there's really nothing else to complain about.

To wrap it up; I currently have a real love for the current Canadian metal scene, as it's spawning so many unique extreme metal artists who are adding much variety, depth and artistic propensity to the death metal aesthetic, whilst never jettisoning all the abrasive energy that defines it as the secluded, special art form that it is. Adversarial, Mitochondrion, Weapon, Martial Barrage, and now Begrime Exemious, amongst plenty of others. A special scene that creates exactly what I want in my extreme metal at this day in age. [i]Impending Funeral of Man[/i] is a most worthy addition to such a supreme slew of releases.

Last year's Set Ablaze the Kingdom of Abraham EP not only introduced me to the disgusting, primal wall of force that is Begrime Exemious, but also answered the eternal question that had been sloshing around in my wet brain for decades: what would happen if you just took every one of your classic thrash, death, speed, black, grind, and doom influences from the 80s or 90s, threw them into a blender with a few pounds of raw meat and then choked down the results until you were inebriated? That was a fun if short cocktail, with a nifty Autopsy cover tacked on, but if it could be attributed with any crime (beyond the inherent blasphemy of its creation), it would be the pangs of thirst that were left at the back of my throat as I anticipated more...

Well, a little over a year later, the palate can finally be satisfied with the unsavory sounds of the first hellish full-length album from the Canadian butchers, a 44 minute crash course in uncaring, unswerving, beautiful negligence of all the annoying trends and cash-ins that have plagued their chosen art for nigh on decades. Impending Funeral of Man sounds as if a warband of very shaggy men were frozen in their jam space during a blizzard in the 1994-95 season, only to thaw a decade into the 21st century to mete out the bludgeoning atrocities of their influences on an unsuspecting world of Necrophagist wankers and frog-tossing invertebrate Devourment fans. Begrime Exemious essentially have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the good stuff from that bygone era, and they hammer it all together like plates of mismatched armor. You can hear the mix and mess of Order from Chaos, the infernal death siege engine of Incantation, the crash and speed of Slaughter, Bathory, Mayhem, and a hundred other formative thrash, black and death metal artists, plus the subtle undercurrents of death/doom and grind.

Impending Funeral of Man is for the most part a fast and filthy album, a corridor of violent, suffocating aberrations with only occasional alcoves in which to stop and gather your dying breaths. But these pauses are plentiful enough that the album achieves an overall balance of dynamic diabolism which allows you to barrel straight through it like a drunken fiend in a brothel of succubi, satisfied with the rising and falling of tempos. Tracks like "Morbid Invocation" and "Archfiend" (the one track that re-appears from the prior EP) beat upon you relentlessly, but never forget that they're actual decent metal songs, with good if sporadic lead work and a slight touch more atmosphere than you'd initially expect. One of my favorites on the album was "Filthy Sodomites of Christ", which rolls along like a rusted tank with headphones on, listening to a mix tape of Hellhammer, Autopsy and early Morbid Angel. Another is the digestible, violently melodic "Ancient Crypts Asunder", with its winning mile of raw leads and dank, sincere vocals.

"Incipit" took me completely by surprise, an atmospheric instrumental dowsed in acoustic melancholy. Closing track "I, Iconoclast" is also noteworthy as one of the most raging and bombastic pieces here. In fact, I think I enjoyed every track with the possible exception of the "Psalmody of Sacrificial Blaze". It's 9 minutes long and divided into three segments, the first of which ripped my face off. Somewhere around the middle I got lost until the slow leads and doomy tones of the closing moments stirred me, but ultimately even this track is at least good enough. The album is hardly over-saturated with instantly memorable riffing, but that's not really the type of band this is. They succeed through an overall sense of punishment, and a courage to branch out into whatever direction serves the song.

Begrime Exemious is very much an old school band, or rather an amalgamation of old school sounds that probably holds no real interest for the attention starved younger fan of deathcore or technical knob slobbing. But their strength lies in the fact that they emulate not one style or act in particular, but the entire spectrum of extremity that once existed. There is no boring, endless blast work here. No trendy noodling. No cheap breakdowns. Impending Funeral of Man benefits from a grounded, raw mix which would be very easy to reproduce in the live setting, and to that effect, they are one of the most honest sounding bands you'll hear today. I was very surprised that a Nuclear War Now! or Hell's Headbangers had not picked up the band after the previous EP, since Begrime has that center of appeal which could easily transfer to fans of a band like Goatlord, Nunslaughter or Blasphemophager.

Alas, it seems they've got a cool new label to do right by them, and enough diversity in their sound to play alongside nearly any death, black, thrash or death/doom bill, so there's not a lot stopping them. As someone used to hearing only the more tech inspired death approach of a Neuraxis, Cryptopsy or Martyr coming from Canada, it's a massive, refreshing plus to see my northern neighbors throw such a potent incendiary unto the battlefield of revival extremity that has promulgated internationally in these past few years.

Highlights: Archfiend, Incipit, Filth Sodomites of Christ, I, Iconoclast, Ancient Crypts Asunder

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

It's here! Begrime Exemious' first full length, and it delivers. I’m very proud that some very good friends of mine and one of the new forerunners of Canadian Extreme metal have made a major release. I’ve received pre-release mp3’s of the album so I don’t have any opinions on some things that are important in releases such as lyrics, artwork and the likes. But keep reading if you’d like to see my opinions on what I think of the music of the album

Getting right to the production on the album, mostly everything can be heard properly, sans the some important aspects of the drums (Especially in Death metal) The snare is to obscure in the mix and when you do hear it well, its very poppy, and I struggle to hear the tom fills which is really unfortunate, because the tom fills have a Immolation feel to them in the style they're executed. The guitars sound very chainsaw-esqe, which is standard for Death metal, and the bass can be heard very well. The vocals are very torturous, and recorded perfectly. The mastering on the version I’m reviewing is very awkward, but it’s probably a pre-release master, so I shouldn’t worry too much about it as none of these issues take away from the music on the album.

The music found on this album is anything but your typical Death metal band. The first full length into their career and Begrime Exemious already have a unique sound. Their music is very evil sounding, but it's very hard to describe their sound,but it definitely feels rooted in Thrash/Black metal. One thing I notice is that a few songs from derive from a similar upbeat tempo, but good thing there are songs on the album that do sway from this often enough that It doesn’t get too cumbersome.

Most songs on here are very good, some definitely do stand out more than others. The opening “Morbid Invocation” is an excellent track, I find at times it sounds like it could off “The Ten Commandments” By Malevolent Creation, it really does have an old school feel to it. The third track, for me, does stand out as being my favorite on the album. "Sanctum Sanctorum" is a crushing combination of Death metal and Black metal, the riffs are very dissonant, and the drumming is very intricate. Only a couple of tracks do I scratch my head to. The first being Archfiend, don’t get me wrong, it’s an excellent track and a staple in their repertoire, but I don’t see why it was re-recorded, nothing new seems added, and the version on the EP was perfect. Grand Deceiver is the only track where there are some very uncertain parts for me, such as the annoying sweeping lead that appears a few times in the song, and the breakdown of the song in the middle isn’t that good as well.
All in all, excellent debut album, and I hope it does very well for the band. It’s good to see they finally got a label and a big release out!

Songs 8/10
Production 7/10
Performances 10/10