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Expurgo > Burial Ground > Reviews
Expurgo - Burial Ground

Expurgo - Burial ground - 80%

Phuling, May 27th, 2011

Expurgo was new to me, but they’re apparently fairly well-known in their motherland after the release of a few splits and some gigging, and also appearing on a whole bunch of festivals. Burial ground is the band’s debut fullength, and with just a quick glance at the cover I’m already in love; you can’t go wrong with wicked zombie art. I don’t know who the Anderson L.A. guy who did the cover is, but the whole atmosphere of it reminds me a bit of Wes Benscoter’s work for Mortician’s Darkest day of horror album. But, musically the two acts have little in common.

This is old school grinding with flair of the new. While acts like Brutal Truth and Napalm Death probably played a part in creating Expurgo’s sound, there’s a taste of gore in the vein of Regurgitate and even Dead Infection, just as I occasionally can’t help but feel a touch of the Scandinavian sound in the way of Nasum at times. It all comes together in this gory, blasting goodness that is Burial ground.

A track like End of line presents a chunky and oh-so-gory sound, heavy-as-shit and chugging, whereas Purging the phlegm even has the classic gurgling gore vocals. The opener Blast of truth has a sound that’s really true to the old school recipe, and so does Spell or xenophobism, but with that extra South American punch to it. I guess I could go on and just mention the many different aspects of their music, but it’d feel a bit redundant ‘cause I think you’ve already got the message. The riffing’s quick, slick and chainsaw-ripping, with a prominent bass delivering bulldozer-heavy lines, enhancing the gut-churning heftiness and effect of the tunes. Drum-wise there’s nothing to complain about, offering both classic blastbeats as the occasional d-beat, and the many tempo changes are performed without the slightest bit of hiccup. Vocally the main voice sounds a bit like a mixture of the growls of Brutal Truth and I.N.R.I., with a deep and powerful voice, but that’s not too gory and gurgling, and still very decipherable (at least with the lyrics at hand). And speaking of the lyrics one might think, judging from the artwork, that it’s just gory glory, but they actually do have a sociopolitical message to deliver.

The production’s pretty much spot-on, letting all instruments play an important part in the sound and not drowning anything out. The mixture of the different aspects of grindcore creates a varied and powerful semi-gory old school sound. It’s intense, well-written, well-performed and should speak to any fan of grindcore. 29 blazing tracks that go by in 38 minutes, and not a dull moment.

Originally written for My Last Chapter