Slaughter in the Vatican

Hey, this is a really heavy thrash metal album! Exhorder are one of those bands that, even if they put out some good albums, never reach the popularity they deserved. The period was a bit messy for thrash metal because there was the explosion of death metal and grind, and the classic, main and famous thrash metal bands were becoming always more and more melodic but Exhorder didn’t care about this. This debut is still regarded as one of the heaviest albums ever and, put out in this period, it is even more shocking.

The first thing you can notice here is the guitars tone. It’s crunchy, really heavy and devastating. Probably, along the classic thrash metal distortion, they added a high treble charge on the amplifiers to make it even more death metal oriented. The tempo are fast but not totally uncontrolled and not immature at all. The technique level is quite high and the classic furious palm muting riffage is one of the most important things in this album.

The vocals are quite clear and it’s a thing that I like a lot because contrasted in a perfect way with the heaviness of the sound. They are a bit in Pantera style for the tonality and for the way Kyle sings, but they are far less groovy and more thrash. Songs like “Homicide” and “Exhorder” are a total schizophrenic mixture of up tempo and blasting guitars; while longer songs like “Death In Vain”, “Desecrator” or “Tragic Period” contain more mature and less impulsive parts, especially during the mid paced beginning to restart with the massacre. During those parts, the guitars are full of groove, but the one in old style tradition without stopped chords or things like that.

The lyrics are really violent and against pretty much anything: religion, society and people in general. Returning to the music, the drums are really heavy and pounding, and they are another very important component in their music for the heaviness united to a good sense of variety and groove. The guitars riffs always change from mid paced patterns to faster ones, always without a hint of melody but anyway they so catchy and well done. Sometimes the fury is so high that the drummer plays some blast beats too, but they are no long or annoying. They are just in few sections and last for very few seconds.

Another great song is “Anal Lust”, featuring non sense bass drums triplets and insane up tempo. The riffs are now more punkish and more impulsive. Two minutes of pure insanity. It’s great to hear how the title track begins: a simply priests chorus during a mess. Than, all the anger towards this institution flows in the guitars extreme riffage and the vocals assault, putting an end to one of the heaviest thrash metal albums ever. If you like devastating guitars tone and pounding drums, check this out…maybe on your way to Rome. Kill the Pope!