Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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Exumer was an early German thrash metal band with close ties to Angel Dust (their labelmates on the Desaster imprint) and a raw, vicious, unsophisticated style derived chiefly from influences like Venom, Exodus, and Slayer. In fact, vocalist/bassist Mem von Stein and guitarist Ray Mensh were said to have met at a Frankfurt Slayer show, subsequently drafting second guitarist Bernie and drummer Syke Bornetto to complete the lineup responsible for 1986's bruising Possessed by Fire debut – an enduring underground favorite despite stiff competition from more successful Teutonic thrashworks of the day by Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction. Sadly, Exumer returned significantly less inspired (and minus von Stein, who was briefly replaced by Paul Arakari) for 1988's sophomore slump, Rising from the Sea, and broke up a short time thereafter. Exumer's "classic" lineup did eventually reunite for a special performance at 2001's Wacken Open Air Festival before disappearing once again. In 2009, von Stein and Mensh relaunched the band with a new lineup, delivering a lone single called "Walking the Fire" that same year. A deal was eventually struck with Metal Blade and 25 years after the release of their previous LP, Exumer delivered their third album, 2012's Fire & Damnation. Reinvigorated and heavy as ever, they continued to tour, eventually releasing a follow-up album called The Raging Tides in early 2016.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

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Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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It is probably a well-known fact that North Rhine-Westphalia, in particular the so-called "Ruhrpott", constituted the epicenter of the German metal movement during the eighties of the last millenium. Just think of groups like Sodom, Living Death or Kreator, to name but a few. In addition, the North German metropolis Hamburg was prominently represented by Helloween and Running Wild. In Frankfurt am Main, we were proud of having bands such as Tankard, Grinder and, of course, Exumer.

The band showed up with a debut that did not follow the typical Teutonic approach. Their kind of thrash metal could not be compared with that of bands such as Kreator or Holy Moses. Exumer did not have the intention to impress the listener with a very rumbling, stomping or pounding sound. Due to the absence of technical deficiencies, the band operated on the same level of musicianship as the American thrash metal role models. To put it more precisely, Exumer´s recipe for an amazing debut was based on the same ingredients as the first releases of Legacy (Testament) and Exodus. The edgy riffs, the tempo changes and in particular the clear and razor-sharp sound revealed the spiritual relationship with Gary Holt´s high-precision machine. By the way, I will never understand why the transparently produced albums of the eighties do not suffer from sterility. With regard to the modern outputs, transparency and lifelessness seem to go hand in hand. But that´s another story.

The song material captivated with a handful of really outstanding highlights. The fast-paced "Xiron Darkstar" explained musically the terms "intensity" and "dynamism" in a matter of minutes. Its riffing was in a class of its own. As if that were not enough, the track delivered an aggressive yet catchy chorus. The other pieces pointed in the same direction and some of them, for example the title track, did not pale beside the just described thrash metal grenade. "Possessed by Fire", which was simultaneously the opener, demonstrated its variety of strengths with a gripping chorus, a casual break at the end and, of course, incredibly sharp guitars. The vocals of Mem von Stein were simply fantastic, too. He had found the right mix of fanaticism, insanity and expressiveness. Rarely appearing background vocals rounded the picture off. Too bad that Exumer also performed a few tunes that did not possess the same amount of outstanding features. Some breaks did not completely match with the flow of the respective song. But to put it in positive terms, it was good to see that the guys were not afraid of complexity. Under the bottom line, the band did not bore us with expressionless pieces and this was the main thing.

"Possessed by Fire" was published by Disaster. The signing of Exumer confirmed the good taste of the company, because Exumer followed a similar musical direction as the likewise competent Angel Dust, whose debut had been also released by Disaster. Furthermore, the contract with this company also meant that the album was recorded and produced at the Musiclab in Berlin by the fairly famous Harris Johns and Thomas Ziegler, the obligatory partners of Disaster. One can conclude from this that the company was not stingy, albeit it surely did not have the financial resources to compete with giants like Roadrunner or Noise. All the more astonishing was the here presented result. "Possessed by Fire" became nothing less than a German thrash metal milestone, totally free from foreign stylistic influences and very competently implemented. To get a first impression, you should check out "A Mortal in Black". Its simple yet highly memorable riff at the beginning and its thrilling high speed sections will surely make you curious for more.

by Felix 1666, metal-archives.com

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Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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Possessed by Fire has been archived as a great thrash surprise in 1986 and just one year after, Exumer is again ready to brutalize our ears with more burning metal. Rising From the Sea also marks the last chapter by this band under the full-length format. Again, a bit more than 30 minutes are sufficient for this band to take no prisoners thanks its brutal approach to metal. However, we must remark few things on this new album and the first one we can immediately notice is the production. This time, the band has chosen a far rawer and essential one. Quite surprisingly, as the time has passed by, the production has come back in terms of power and clearness.

Since the opener, “Winds of Death” we can hear to dry riffs and an essential drums sound. The speed metal elements are less present and the few fast restarts point more on the classic thrash metal. Maybe, it’s also a matter of production but I don’t hear those more speed metal oriented elements that much. However, there are pros too and one of these is the power the band always manages to create in every single composition. Maybe, this time they pointed a bit more on the mi-paced parts for some compositions but they are not annoying or too repetitive. It’s obvious that a band like this is better on the faster restarts but the mid-paced sections are good too.

The title track has lots of galloping riffs on the first part and they are just great. I can only imagine those ones with a better production. The catchiness and the choruses are always well-recognizable as we go on with the following “Decimation”. The vocals continue their march trough lower tonalities to suddenly explode into high pitched screams. The guitars solo sections are just obliterating for their rawness and “in your face” style. There is also a sort of hardcore worship on some faster riffs to make the whole compositions even heavier. By the way, while we are going on listening to this album, the prevalence of the thrash metal elements is evident.

“The First Supper” has more direct riffs and impulsive up tempo sections. The solos are ultra fast and shredded. Being a quite long track, the mid-paced sections are here as well but they are always quite catchy and well-structured. “Unearthed” has a weird, dark start to turn into a more complex thrash metal track, full of breaks and sudden restarts with galloping riffs. “Shadows of the Past” has a riff, the main at the beginning that could perfectly fit in a more technical thrash metal album. The Slayer influences by the fast restarts are really heavy. “Are you Deaf?” shows more hardcore oriented riffs on the mid-paced progression while the faster parts are just a collection of impulsive proto-blast beats.

“I Dare You” is definitely more canonical in its thrash metal progression. The impulsive approach reigns supreme here and the ultra fast bass drums beats are just amazing as the one on the snare are essentially primitive in style. The riffs are galloping once more and the solos add bestiality to this already brutal collection of fast parts. The last “Ascension Day” follows the same style with catchy but brutal riffs and the frontal assault of the drumming. The vocal are quite raspy and low but never too much, conserving the perfect german thrash tonality.

At the end, I always prefer the first effort but this one is remarkable too if you prefer a more thrash metal oriented songwriting. The only weak point is the production but the rest is good. Prepare yourself for higher thrash impact here and even some more hardcore moments like on “Are You Deaf?”

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, metal-archives.com

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The long-awaited new release from old-school German thrashers Exumer is a fun, furious ride of traditional Thrash Metal that really captures that intense feeling and vibe from the opening riff to the last note, and as such turns out to be one of the more enjoyable listens in the genre.

Starting off with the rip-roaring opening title track, the most immediate impression made is that of a band that has no intention of sticking around long, getting right in and inflicting damage then moving on to the next target. These songs are mostly short, sharp speed-laden bursts of traditional thrash that owes a lot more to the American scene than the German groups they started around, and the aforementioned title track is the biggest example of that. Second track, and album highlight ‘Vermin of the Sky’ is another fantastic example, blessed with a terrific riff that makes for a memorable track amidst a sea of similarly-memorable songs. Another potential album highlight, ‘The Weakest Limb’ is even more impressive with its extended soloing work and more mid-tempo pace towards the later half, making full use of its bloated (in terms of the song lengths on the album) to full effect. ‘Waking the Fire’ is another memorable effort, moving between full-fledged fury and that bout of controlled chaos that runs rampant through the rest of the album.

The fact that there’s two re-recorded songs, ‘Fallen Saint’ from the debut and ‘I Dare You’ from the sophomore release, here amongst the new material is certainly a welcome addition, sounding as though they were originally intended for the album with their speed, ferocity and biting chops, allowing them to both stand-out on the album. Despite the length, the shortest track, ‘Devil Chaser’ is another really strong offering, tending to make for a total razing track thanks to incendiary guitar-work, hyper-speed double-bass drumming and the trademark gang-shouts on the chorus that makes for another good song.

There’s a few things that needs to work on, most notably the fact that there’s the feeling of this being way too short for its own good. While the attack of getting in, destroying all who move and getting out before detection usually make for memorable times, here the short song lengths can make the opposite impression. None of the songs are over four minutes in length, and with only two over three-and-a-half minutes, it sometimes gets the feeling that the songs are being cut off from really extending themselves to make for a more enjoyable experience. The ending of ‘A New Mortality’ is the perfect example here, sounding as if the band reached the three-minute length and just cut it off in a bizarre way because the rest of the songs had been that long. While this is rectified on the deluxe edition with several bonus live tracks, that still leaves for the feeling of a short-changed experience which is purely coincidental and mildly detracts from a solid offering overall.

slayrrr666, metal-archives.com

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Exumer: Discography (1986 - 2019)

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There's been a surprising wealth of albums over the past handful of years emerging from the maw of bands that originally kicked it, along with some ass, back in the 80s. Somewhere along the line, the old timers discovered the fountain of youth, energy and rejuvenation as it applies to the power of metal. Whether they came back from long hiatuses or were thrashing all along, it would appear that the folks in Overkill, Onslaught, Hirax, Artillery, Death Angel and Raw Power (yeah, they’re a hardcore band, but they're still older than your pops and one of my favourites of all time. So there) have managed to ignore the aches and creaks of advancing chronology and conventional mainstream thought that this whole playing-metal-into-your-40s-and-50s thing is a phase in order to deliver a series of pretty storming releases. Of course, there has been just as much, if not more, of an expansive, Steve McQueen-in-The Blob-like growth of shite to contend with, but that’s par for a course that those culprits should either retire to or have never left in the first place.

Chalk up The Raging Tides, the fourth album in total for this Frankfurt/New York City long-standing Teutonic thrash institution, in the category of the former. Exumer originally came to being in the early 80s, released a kick ass debut in the form of Possessed by Fire in 1986 and a few not-so-hot subsequent releases. The band was pretty much silent until the festival circuit started waving cash under their noses in the early 00s. The Raging Tides is the band’s second release since reconvening back in 2008 (Fire and Damnation followed a couple years after dusting off the oldies during the initial thrash revival) and sweet goddamn has the band surprised, impressed and simply blown me the fuck away!

To be equally hyperbolic as objective, this album exists as a near-perfect example of old school sound, energy and song writing acumen mildly viewed through the lens of modern metal and the clinically clean production value of today. Hands down, it’s a raging (yeah, sorry about that) collection of incisive thrash metal done in the vein of their Teutonic cohorts like Kreator, 21st century Destruction and post-Persecution Mania Sodom. Being that Exumer originally hail from those days known as 'back in the day,' that they combine rapid fire riffing with half-time middle eights and great amounts of attention aimed at the directive of achieving consistently infectious choruses is a natural and welcome. One after another, after another, they offer up absolute barn stormers in the form of “Catatonic,” “Sacred Defense,” “Brand of Evil,” and “Death Factory” that not only play to fiery thrashing and forward sonic propulsion, but possess refrains that’ll penetrate brains to find themselves hummed, air guitar-ed and fist pumped to for weeks to come.

The alternate picked main riff of the title track is a familiar injection of energy, at once technical, yet simple, in a “Blackened” sort of approach with classic thrash bridge riffs based on E-string pedals and enough gang vocals to make you wonder if bassist Tony Schiavo [ex-Subzero and Skarhead] snuck some of his NYHC buddies into the studio off the clock. “Welcome to Hellfire” and “Sinister Souls” both have classic German thrash written all over and into them with the only downside(s) being the above-mentioned sterile production and those few moments when the band takes its collective foot off the gas. When Exumer slows down, they display a noticeable weakness that exhibits itself in a sound that’s not grimy enough for sustained lumbering chord progressions (examples include their cover of Pentagram’s “Forever My Queen” and “Shadow Walker”). And whether you want to chastise them for lifting from Exodus’ “A Lesson in Violence” during “There Will Always be Blood” is up to your discretion.

The point of necessity that requires mentioning is that it’s not that The Raging Tides has rewritten the wheel and presented a completely novel take on its chosen brand of musical vocation. To the contrary, Exumer has simply penned a robust album dripping with strong riffs, cogent arrangements and copious amounts of energy with little to no filler that’ll give credence to the idea that old dudes still have it in them and thrash best.

by Kevin Stewart-Panko, metalinjection.net

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