Review by Sonny for Exhorder - Defectum Omnium (2024)

Exhorder, as all good thrash heads know, dropped the highly-regarded Slaughter in the Vatican way back in 1990, followed it up with The Law in '92 and then seemingly dropped off the face of the planet altogether. These two albums, however, lead to Exhorder, for better or for worse, being credited with inventing groove metal. As the band were big mates with Pantera, then this isn't too much of a stretch, although Exhorder's Kyle Thomas is quoted as saying that Pantera deserve all the praise for popularising the form as they worked much harder than his band. Now, in all honesty, I am not the biggest fan of groove metal and only a handful of albums have garnered any decent scores from me with Pantera in particular failing to resonate. So when Exhorder released the groove metal-oriented Mourn the Southern Skies upon their return in 2019 I wasn't particularly impressed, although there were plenty of commentators who took against it even more than myself, cursing it for not being Slaughter in the Vatican.

So here we are five years further down the road and Kyle Thomas and the guys are back with their post-return sophomore, Defectum Omnium, and this time they have long-time Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien on board. Now I don't know if I am just in a particularly good mood at the minute, or if this is a genuine improvement, possibly because of Pat's involvement, but actually this isn't half bad. A genuine energy and enthusiasm seems to ooze from every pore of this release, lighting a fire under the band and allowing them to turn in one of those late career successes that a select few bands are fortunate enough to produce. The album still sits nearer the groove end of the equation, but the riffs are so cool that their inherent grooviness in no way detracts from how absolutely badass they are, aided by a thick guitar tone that highlights their power.

There is also some decent variation in pacing with the surfeit of fast-paced aggressiveness countered by some slower, ominously hulking sections that preface even more fist-to-the-jaw sonic violence. The band are also unafraid to drop in a really catchy groove now and then, "Divide and Conquer" and "Taken by Flames" could both easily be released as singles, such is the catchiness of either track. Look, groove metal is never going to be a genre I salivate over and Defectum Omnium is probably not going to be in my top twenty albums of 2024, but respect where it is due, this has given me far more than I ever expected going into it and it's bloody-red-meat grooves have had me happily nodding along throughout the several listens I have given this so far. Definitely an album I can see me slamming on when I feel like a bit of no-nonsense metal riffing and memorable hooks might lighten up my day.