EXHORDER — Slaughter in the Vatican (review)

EXHORDER — Slaughter in the Vatican album cover Album · 1990 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
UMUR
Slaughter in the Vatican is the debut full-length studio album by American thrash metal act Exhorder. The album was released by Roadrunner Records in July 1990. Slaughter in the Vatican was re-issued by Roadrunner Records in 2003 in a low price double CD package with Exhorder´s 2nd full-length studio album The Law (1992). The album stired up some controversy upon release because of the album title and the cover artwork which depicts the pope being led to the gallows for his execusion.

The music on Slaughter in the Vatican is brutal thrash metal. The Morrisound Studios recorded Scott Burns production will have you thinking about death metal, but Exhorder is a brutal thrash metal act rather than a death metal ditto. The album is very consistent with powerful tracks throughout. One of the things that makes the album so succesful in addition to the powerful production ( I have a minor complaint about the snare drum sound, but that´s about it), the tight musicianship and the inspired songwriting is how Exhorder varies the pace in the songs. you´ll get both really heavy tracks, mid-paced ones and really heavy tracks too ( sometimes the pace varies greatly within songs too). I´ll give a special mention to my favorite track Desecrator. Desecrator is one of the most viciously brutal and heavy thrash metal tracks I´ve ever heard. When listening to a track like that it´s no wonder that Exhorder are often associated with death metal. However lead vocalist Kyle Thomas does NOT growl. His singing is raw and aggressive and sometimes reminds me of how Phil Anselmo sounding on Vulgar Display of Power (1992) by Pantera ( just to make a comparison most people can relate to) and I´ll say it again. He does NOT growl. Other songs worth mentioned are the powerful opener Death in Vain, and the short and fast-paced Anal Lust but as mentioned there are no weak tracks on the album. I promise you that you´ll get your socks knocked right off when the first notes of Death in Vain kick in after the short intro. Crushingly brutal yet memorable and varied. This is an album with a very unique sound.

Slaughter in the Vatican is an excellent debut album by Exhorder. It´s an album that´s grown on me considerably over the years and today I consider Slaughter in the Vatican one of the most important and unique thrash metal releases from the early nineties. It´s not a flawless album and had Exhorder continued down this path on the next album instead of changing their style towards a more groove oriented style, I´m sure they would have made something close to a masterpiece. Slaughter in the Vatican is still worth a 4 - 4.5 star rating though. Slaughter in the Vatican is an album I can highly recommend.
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