Escarnium - Excruciating Existence

ESCARNIUM -  Excruciating Existence (HELLTHRASHER - CD 2012)

Brazilian metal scene has usually been quite praised by the maniacs and I can see why. I also, ever since I started to listen to this noise, have been fascinated by such albums as “Beneath the Remains”, “Arise”, “Rotting”, “The Laws of Scourge”, “Immortal Force” and “Bloody Vengeance”, to mention just my favourite ones. And there were always some great bands from Brazil, or South America in general, so it was always very exciting to watch the scene in there and see what it has to offer. Escarnium is one of the best bands, which I’ve discovered from the land of coffee and football. Although I still haven’t had a chance to check Impetuous Rage, which is the band where Victor – the mainman behind Escarnium – played before, but the debut demo of Escarnium “Covered in Decadence” plus the additional songs on “Rex Vomitorium” on which this demo was also featured were just fuckin’ excellent. I was so impressed by the music of this Brazilians that I even sent them some questions for interview. That was a list f 20 cool questions, which I hoped Victor will answer. I’ve sent them on the 7th of January and now it’s the 5th of July and I still haven’t received the answers. Meanwhile Escarnium visited Europe (including Poland) for the short tour and also released the first real full length album… And despite being told by Victor so many times that he’s working on the interview and never getting it back, I don’t feel angry towards the band. I understand they don’t speak good English, didn’t have much time when they’ve been recording the album… So, fuck that interview, at least I’m happy that Escarnium has released their new CD, which is titled “Excruciating Existence”. This full length album contains nine tracks, closing in 40 minutes, and trust me – this is one of the best South American albums, which you’ll ever get to know!

For description of “Excruciating Existence” I should probably use just two words: DEATH and METAL. Yeah, Escarnium is pure and classic death metal combo and their music is deeply rooted in the US sound. Think of Incantation, early Immolation, early Vital Remains, Goreaphobia, Nuclear Death, Acheron, Rottrevore… They were all killer bands and those Brazilians seem to be hugely influenced by all of them. Of course once again it is disputable whether you need another Incantation worshipping band in your collection, if you already have their classic albums plus you may also have heard such acts like Dead Congregation or Ectovoid and many more. But before you throw some curses into Escarnium, I would suggest you to think twice, as “Excruciating Existence” is just very solid and absolutely killer piece of death metal. Those cabrones have selected some massively heavy and brutal riffs, played them with lots of enthusiasm, passion and frenzy and the results are only great. Each of the songs, which ended up on “Excruciating Existence” offer an evil, terrifying and sinister atmosphere and each is an epitome of brutality of this style. The pace is sometimes rather slow, but even when Escarnium fastens, the whole music still sounds somehow apocalyptic and extremely massive, with the guitars reminding me damn heavy wall of sound and vocals, which are like ghastly invocations. One of the best things about “Excruciating Existence” is that I cannot see any bad moments – songs or particular fragments – there. Everything is very even, very tight, very powerful, I like all the songs, really. Of course at the same time one can say that there aren’t any, which would be particularly memorable, they’re all just similar… and that can be a positive or negative aspect to you. Personally I can maybe favour such death anthems as “731” and “Salvation through Zyklon B”, which are just fast and furious as hell. I also really liked slow, motherfucking heavy, sometimes even slightly harmonious, but also fastened in the middle part “Self Proclaimed Messiah”, but that doesn’t mean the rest is weaker or less killer. Especially if there’s also such a devastating death metal anthem as “Death Metal Terror”, which will probably massacre all maniacs, who will attend to Escarnium gigs! Fuck yeah, this truly is a killer album, definitely a must to have.

Standout tracks: “731”, “Salvation through Zyklon B”, “Self Proclaimed Messiah”, “Death Metal Terror”

Final rate: 83/100