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Exhale

Blind

Written by: PP on 16/05/2010 02:11:51

Ahoy, extreme music fans. Let me introduce you to Exhale, whose new album "Blind" is one of the most grating deathgrind releases this year. It's about a 50/50 split between modern death metal like Diabolic and the uncompromising rapid-fire grindcore of a Brutal Truth, Napalm Death et al, and it's guaranteed to slowly grind away your skull with a cheese grater. Well, not slowly, cause they'd likely make it a very speedy experience, but you get the point. Like the promo sheet states, the band went with the concept "grind is the shit, let's make some", and that's exactly what's on the menu for the 29 minutes that "Blind" lasts.

There are two vocalists alternating lines and passages nicely. One sports a rough death metal grunt, luring in all extreme death metal fans, and the other resorts into a scathing combination of a scream and a yell, and both are very capable in delivering oddly memorable lines despite the ravaging chaos that is Exhale's instrumental landscape. Particularly "World Of Hate" and "Propaganda" are good examples. But perhaps it's a track like "Scream" that best describes Exhale's sound; as it's essentially a serpentine death metal track, except it has a light speed drive attached to it.

What's most impressive about "Blind", however, is how super tight the instrumentation is despite the relentless speed that they are played with. A nice, modern production helps, but it's not completely soulless as it has the guitars sounding absolutely excruciating by leaving them relatively raw in the mix. Let me just re-iterate: they sound furious on this album. So if you're into extreme metal, check this shit out.

Download: World Of Hate, Propaganda, Scream
For the fans of: Diabolic, Brutal Truth, Napalm Death
Listen: Myspace

Release date 05.04.2010
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