Pestilence – Exitivm
Release Date: 25th June 2021
Label: Agonia Records
Pre-Order
Genre: Progressive Death Metal.
FFO: Asphyx, Death, Atheist.
Review By: Paul Cairney
Exitivm is the 9th album by Dutch death metal stalwarts Pestilence. With, main man, Patrizio Mameli, being the last of the original lineup still in place. It is only natural, then, that the bands sound has evolved since the early days, into the style they play today.
The fact is that the album is not very exciting. It is typical death metal, bringing nothing new to the genre. That said, it is very difficult to bring something new to this genre and so it is perhaps a bit unfair to mention this. If you can accept its limitations, then Exitivm is an enjoyable album.
Excluding the intro and outro, the 10 tracks on offer do manage to encourage a bit of air drumming and frantic headbanging on occasion and it also contains some serious riffage. Both the title track, Exitivm and Pericvlvm Externvm are well worth a bit of your time and will strain the old, aching, neck muscles.
One of the more pleasing aspects of the album is the track running time. There are no 5 minutes plus songs, which could have left the album sounding frantic. Fortunately, it doesn’t, however the songs occasionally blend into one another, making you forget what track you are on.
With, what is essentially, a new band, Pestilence have managed to hit the ground running. They gel well together and Exitivm is not overly hindered by a new band dynamic. Make no mistake about it, however, this album is Mameli’s vision, including the production, and so the question remains, would it be a better album if others had more creative input?
Pestilence is a name that is synonymous with Dutch death Metal, as so they do deserve our respect and while Exitivm will not set the world alight, it is a decent listen if you have a spare 40 minutes or so. Sadly, it won’t be an album you return to very often, only now and again.
(3 / 5)
