Excoriate - On Pestilent Winds (2009)

   Some bands goal was not only to recall the feeling of the '80s, but also to sound exactly like the most ancient bands of extreme metal. This ambition isn't unknown in Sweden since a while, where are plenty of delusive bands to find.
   Excoriate's one and only full lenght album just showed up from nothing as a pretender when the band didn't even exist anymore, and served as a new example how to do it in a proper way. The strong thrash metal incluences, the rehearsal-like dirty sound and the strongly echoing vocal reminds to Possessed, but in a way more obscure version. The remarkable aggressiveness of the music could serve as the only hint that may suspect that the album isn't an ancient long forgotten unknown gem of the '80s. Except that all themes and features are strictly following the good old recipe. They introducing well the very core that later was leading to the birth of black and death metal. While the Swedes focused on the basics mostly under British influence from the mixed aspect of heavy, thrash and black metal, or reached them on the line of punk, thrash and death like Death Breath did; Excoriate grabbed something more exact that existed back than for real in this form. That's why "On Pestilent Winds..." may sound more authentic. It could count as an excellent concept album that brought back a long missing shade into the extreme scene.