Unlike Mourn the Southern Skies, Kyle Thomas has chosen to do double duty on Defectum Omnium, standing behind the mic with an axe. The rest of the band is rounded out by the mighty Pat O’Brien (ex-Cannibal Corpse) on guitars, bass extraordinaire Jason Viebrooks (ex-Grip Inc.), and Sasha Horn (former member of our very own Dr. Fisting‘s Trials) behind the kit. With no shortage of talent, Thomas fills this new record with more of his insane and absurd lyrics about the world turning to shit and how we should all just die. For nearly an hour, Exhorder is going to yell at you in languages that include punk, doom, thrash, and Southern metal. If you thought their last album was a slab of variety and diversity, you haven’t heard anything yet.
“Wrath of Prophecies” unleashes those familiar Panteraisms that one would expect with a Death Angel-esque vocal performance. It’s a decent track that conveys the aggression that will undoubtedly be present throughout the rest of the record. But, even for its short length, the entire warbly, dissonant final minute could have been cut. “Year of the Goat” is an interesting song to release as a single. It begins with a black metal introduction and has a new diversity in the vocals. Once the riff gets moving, I get massive vibes from the thrashier numbers on Symphony X’s Iconoclast. This influence is made even greater by the fact that Thomas wails a lot like Russell Allen. It’s a solid track but it’s made memorable mostly by the morphing from Exhorder’s traditional vocal approach to this one.
The oddest pieces on the album are the back-to-back “Defectum Omnium / Stolen Hope” and “Three Stages of Truth / Lacing the Well.” The first part of “Defectum Omnium / Stolen Hope” is nothing but Latin church chats that eventually give way to one of the better riffs on the album. The song alternates between builds and falls before erupting into one of the heaviest riffs of the band’s career. It continues to charge toward its successor as Thomas’ wails reach Iron Maiden/Judas Priest territories. When it transitions to “Three Stages of Truth / Lacing the Well,” it quiets to soothing acoustic guitars and soft bass. Then, the distortion kicks in with a bizarre stop-start riff that makes me cringe due to its similarities to Korn. After it transitions to more Pantera-isms, it fades away as if the band has no idea how to end this thing.
In general, the all-out thrashers, like “Divide and Conquer” and “Desensitized,” do a good job of focusing on killer riffs and memorable choruses. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to pull from these tracks as they follow the tired-and-true verse-chorus alternation. So, we have to settle with the tracks where the band tries something new. Sadly, many are far too long and meandering. Then, there’s “Sedition.” This absolute nightmare uses a punkish attitude with a popping, upbeat character that sounds like Exhorder is trying to write a Gwar song. But, way less funny. While nothing can touch the band’s classic records, Defectum Omnium still doesn’t come close to Mourn the Southern Skies. Everything the band created for their successful comeback has been thrown to the wayside in favor of expanding beyond their comfort zone. I don’t blame them for it, and the performances are solid. But it doesn’t work.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 192 kb/s mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Websites: exhorder.bandcamp.com | exhorder.com | facebook.com/exhorderofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 8th, 2024
