Swedish grinders Exhale certainly don't like to give you much in the way of breathing space. Starting out in 2004, this is the 2nd album from this five piece, and first for Dark Balance records. It wouldn't surprise me if on the finished release it would have the slogan “Exhale – keeping the paracetamol business in Sweden running single-handedly” typed proudly in bold font somewhere in the booklet.
When there's a lot of good quality death/grind pumping out of Europe (not the band – though that would be worth hearing), it's pretty hard to stand out with a genre that is generally devoid of any kind of subtlety, and rarely harbouring much in the way of individualism. Now, Exhale don't particularly stand out either, but by fuck do they know how to make a tasty old racket!
Their music is of a good quality, with obvious similarities to Nasum, the odd touches of earlier Aborted and lots of nods in the direction of just about any extreme grinders you could name off the top of your head. As a whole, the album flows like a blasting torrent of frustration and anger, with blastbeats pounding your weak flesh into meat paste. The guitars crush through the sound barrier with accompanying sonic booms, at times jagged and acrid like a thick fog, but always maintaining it's obstinate hateful stance. Shards of notes flying like sparks in all directions piercing all and sundry that happen to be in speaker range with pure grinding mayhem. Vocally, there's a fair bit of range – not that I mean the two vocalists start crooning Mike Patton-esque melodies at any point, far from it. There's the harsh, growled gurgles a la Chris Barnes, the higher hardcore like yap similar to The Haunted's Dolving, and just about every harsh type of vocal in between, as well as a few dual vocals similar to early Carcass.
So, although this is far from original – it's gives a healthy enough dose of the required grind to sate even the most rabid of fans. This really is a drooling, smoke eating diesel powered bastard of an album – it really doesn't let up that often. When it does, it still manages to abrade your face and sear your ears into a ball of sorry scar tissue. Grind on!
http://www.myspace.com/exhaleswe
http://www.exhaleswe.com
