Expound and Exhort

Viogression were one of the first death metal bands I learnt about. I remember getting my first metal t-shirt (Megadeth) when I was about thirteen. It was bundled with a catalogue showing the other shirts available from the distro. There was the usual stuff (Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Nirvana, etc), and a handful more obscure shirts from bands like Death and Obituary. I was a young teenager with little else to do, so I studied the pages of the catalogue and made a mental note of the band names. Strange enough, one of the shirts in there was a Viogression one. I had no idea who they were, neither did any of the older metallers I knew. I can't imagine there was much of a market for Viogression shirts in the UK back in the early 1990s, but I could have bought one, if I had wanted one.

The name of 'Viogression' had thus been planted in my mind as a potential band to check out. I never saw any of their records for sale in the UK. I had forgotten about the band until I visited Australia many years later, and stumbled on an "Expound and Exhort" CD in a second-hand shop. It was a bargain. I could finally check this band off the list. I wouldn’t say that I had high expectations, but I did have some expectations. These were dashed soon after playing the CD. This didn’t sound like particularly good death metal. It wasn't awful, just a bit dull. The moral of the story? Don’t judge a band by a t-shirt.

I'm listening to this album again now after twenty years have passed. My opinion hasn't changed. I have a high tolerance threshold for half-decent old school death metal. I can sit through hours of this stuff if the drums sound right and the music feels honest. Viogression certainly scores well on the ‘honesty’ side. This is some streetwise, filthy death metal with little interest in commercial potential. The band scores less well when it comes to the drums. The production on this record is odd. The drums sound like someone hitting a big sheet of aluminium. They're loud, but they lack any depth or power. The snare sound is particularly annoying. The rest of the production is as dry as a crisp, and it seems to have excessive reverb on everything (including the vocals).

This kind of sound doesn't work well for bands whose musicianship and song-writing are average. That is the case for Viogression. There are some good riffs, such as that driving, repeated headbanging riff near the beginning on "Fragmented Carcass". The problem is that these songs are based only on riffs and mean-sounding vocals. The drummer isn't skillful or stylish enough to bring these tunes to life. Compare this album to Viogression’s closest comparison: Obituary. Viogression have a similar sludgy, thuggish heaviness and the vocals are similarly extreme. The difference is that Obituary had Donald Tardy on drums. This gave them immense power and drive from which to build. Of course, Obituary also had tons of great songs. Viogression don't. It becomes a question of need; why listen to "Expound and Exhort" when you could listen to "Cause of Death"?

Well, there is one reason. Viogression tapped into the Midwestern death metal sound more than Florida's Obituary ever could. There was a scene of Milwaukee death metal bands around this time (including Morta Skuld and Accidental Suicide). All of them followed in the footsteps of an earlier band called Dr. Shrinker. The influence of this band seeps into this album. It isn’t obvious except on the final song ("Circle of the Divine"). This is the best and most interesting song on the album. It is one of the only songs I've heard that evokes the feel of the final Dr. Shrinker demo ("The Eponym"). It has that same lilting, sinister, brooding aggression. It twists and creeps along, and even the vocals sound similar. Few bands have ever followed Dr. Shrinker's lead, so this song is worth hearing by default. Viogression never had the same flair for experimentation as Dr. Shrinker, but they do a passable impression.

I'm probably not going to listen to "Expound and Exhort" again. Viogression don’t excite or interest me in the same way that much of this old school death metal does. They’re not bad, but I wouldn't wear a Viogression t-shirt. Good job I didn’t buy one when I had the chance.

The concept of a forgotten classic might seem like a contradiction in terms, but there are a great number of outstanding efforts from years long past that didn't make the amazing splash that they could and should have, more often than not due to the business side of the equation. Among the sizable pool of proficient early death metal acts that were relegated to this state was Viogression, a band that brought the spirit of the early Florida scene to Wisconsin, a place that could be described as the opposite of Florida in many ways. The band's name itself definitely points to a strongly thrash-oriented take on the style that was still heavily common circa 1991, though unlike a number of other players at this time such as Solstice and Revenant, the aesthetic veers more closely into the trudging, dissonant death metal character of Obituary and Morbid Angel, though it doesn't venture nearly as much into the constant blasting and grinding character of the latter and manages to be a bit more nimble and thrashing than the former.

While the cover art of Expound And Exhort would lead most to conclude that this band takes after Deicide more so than any of the other early names in death metal, the actual sound tends a bit more closely to an earlier Death approach with a good deal of slower, Cause Of Death era of Obituary moments dispersed throughout each song. Vocalist Brian DeNeffe is all but a perfect ringer for Chuck Schuldiner's throaty bellows, the extended instrumental passages bounce back and forth between Slayer-influenced mayhem with a guitar sound that's all but a dead ringer for the one heard on Leprosy, and the frequent slow sections confound an already asymmetrical songwriting structure that points to what the style would start delving into a few years afterward. The only really blatant point of contrast when compared to their Florida influences is that this band has an obvious love for incorporating sound bits and atmospheric elements into the mix. In further contrast, the lead guitar work is a bit more restrained and tasteful, though still heavily influenced by the Hammeman/King chaotic shredding style that dominated the style.

Though there is arguably a limited amount of originality to be found when comparing this to the seminal works of the Florida scene from 1987-1990, Viogression definitely gets the job done in the quality department, exuding a level of enthusiasm and intensity that is difficult to miss. There are several noteworthy moments on dissonant and bottom heavy numbers such as "Fragmented Carcass" and "Limb From Limb", where the surreal violence of Cannibal Corpse's lyrics mesh in with an Obituary musical aesthetic, whereas the rapid shifts between grooving and high octane thrashing on the riveting opener "Maggot Synod" has all the through-composed, multifaceted charm of Spiritual Healing, though the ambient middle-section goes just a hair too long for its own good. The absolute best moment on this album comes at the tail end with "Circle Of The Divine" where things shift into pure Death territory, though again with a heavy amount of atmospheric quirks that brings along a slight Altars Of Madness feel here and there.

This was one of those albums that was largely a victim of poor marketing on the part of the label, not to mention a disappointing turn of events that led to them not being able to tour with Death past the one week mark. If ever there was a band worthy of sharing the stage with Death, apart from the obvious exception of Morbid Saint (which was a favored touring partner of Chuck and company), this is the band that fits in perfectly with their fan base. It's one of those occasions where they had the right sound at the right time, but all of the ancillary business elements scuttled the whole thing. There is, however, a sizable amount of copies of this CD floating around in second hand outlets, all of them deserving of good homes. Expound And Exhort is one of those albums that doesn't really get old, it keeps moving and changing things up, and falls just shy of matching what was coming out of the bigger names in the early 90s.

Viogression’s debut is one of the great early 90s death metal albums but it never got any bigger attention. This was because the band signed to one of the most notorious rip-off labels at the time, Tombstone Records. However, this wasn't the only bad thing that happened. Viogression's American label Kraze folded during the first week of the band's tour with Death. This tour was meant to promote "Expound & Exhort". To add insult to injury, Tombstone couldn't pay for the Euro leg of said tour and so the band had to withdraw. This resulted in very little attention to their debut which just happens to be a death metal masterpiece.

“Expound and Exhort” is an album full of great death metal very much in the vein of Obituary. Another band that sometimes comes to mind at times is Morpheus Descends. Vocalist Brian DeNeffe does a great John Tardy impression but occasionally he uses a vicious screamy style of singing. Mostly the music varies between mid-tempo and slow’n’doomy but there are also some sudden blast beats. This little factor sets Viogression apart from Obituary because Obituary never used blast beats. The production is good and surprisingly heavy, which is a great thing since some of the more underground death metal albums have quite a weak production. At times the band use weird effects and ambient parts in the songs. “Maggot Synod” has a weird part in the middle, which is a mixture of guitar effects, screams and moans of agony. “Puritan Flames” is a short acoustic instrumental during which a witch is burned. At the beginning of “Fragmented Carcass” someone is having something amputated while being fully conscious, ouch! “As you Die” is the band’s own adaptation of Chopin’s “Marche Funebre” with a nicely demented feel to it. “Limb from Limb” is probably the most Obituary-like track here, sounding like it could be straight off “Cause of Death” or “The End Complete” (and I do not mean this in a negative sense). “Choir of Loudun” is another psycho ambient interlude, while “Choir of Loudun (The Chanting)” ends the CD with a maniacal gore/satanic chanting.

To sum it all up, “Expound and Exhort” is essential for all fans of early 90s death metal. Despite being heavily Obituary influenced it’s by no means a clone and I absolutely recommend it. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.