UMUR "Mourn The Southern Skies" is the third full-length studio album by US, New Orleans based thrash/groove metal act Exhorder. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in September 2019. It´s the successor to "The Law" from 1992 and therefore the first album by the band in 27 years. There are only two out of five members left from the lineup who recorded the predecessor, which are lead vocalist Kyle Thomas and guitarist Vinnie LaBella. Exhorder formed in 1985 and their original run ended in 1994 after releasing two full-length studio albums. "Slaughter in the Vatican" was released in 1990 and featured a raw and brutal thrash metal sound, while "The Law (1992)" featured a more heavy groove influenced sound.

So with only two full-length releases under their belt, which are in two pretty different sounding musical styles, it wasn´t easy to guess which direction Exhorder would pursue on "Mourn The Southern Skies", but as it turns out there are a little of both worlds featured on the album, and some new features too. Granted "Mourn The Southern Skies" sounds the least like "Slaughter in the Vatican (1990)", but there are some fast-paced thrash metal tracks on the album. Opener "My Time", "Beware the Wolf", and especially "Ripping Flesh" are examples of that (the latter is an incredible fast-paced and aggressive track and one of the highlights of the album). "Mourn The Southern Skies" is predominantly a heavy groove laden metal album though, and sometimes the band even touch southern stoner/sludge territories. Take a listen to "Yesterday’s Bones" for proof of that. I´d mention Pantera, Down, and Crowbar among some of the artists that Exhorder share some similarities with on this album.

Thomas still has a raw voice and a powerful delivery, although his voice is a bit lower and more worn and raw sounding these days. I think they´ve made an unfortunate production choice on the vocals on some tracks as the vocals are often layered, and it has the consequence that the vocals aren´t as punchy and powerful as they could have been. A track like "Asunder" features an example of that recording technique, but it´s only a minor issue overall and only occurs on some tracks. As something new Thomas also has a clean vocal part on the opening minute of the closing 9:29 minutes long Down influenced title track. Other than the vocals, it´s the many heavy and groove laden riffs and rhythms which are the main focus of the music. There are a couple of well played guitar solos on the album too. Take a listen to the solos on the above mentioned "Yesterday’s Bones"...that´s some really great solo work.

"Mourn The Southern Skies" features a powerful, heavy, and detailed sounding production job, and although a bit more grit and rawness wouldn´t have hurt, it´s arguably a sound production which suits the material well (I wasn´t surprised to learn that Jens Bogren is credited for mixing and mastering the album). Upon conclusion "Mourn The Southern Skies" is a welcome comeback for Exhorder, but it is not an album which blew me away upon initial listen. The tracks are maybe a little too formulaic vers/chorus structured and therefore a bit predictable, but once I got locked into the heavy grooves and started to appreciate that part of the music and also got accustomed to Thomas new low register voice and more raw singing style, it all started to make more sense, and repeated spins have revealed that "Mourn The Southern Skies" is a good quality groove/sludge/thrash metal album with an emphasis on the groove/sludge and more sporadically on the thrash metal elements. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Kev Rowland Some 27 years since the last album ‘The Law’, and nearly 30 years since the iconic debut ‘Slaughter In The Vatican’, Exhorder are back. The only original members are singer Kyle Thomas and guitarist Vinnie LaBella, but they knew what they wanted to achieve this time around and soon brought longtime friend and former member, bassist Jason VieBrooks (Heathen, Grip Inc.). Soon added were drummer Sasha Horn (Forbidden) and guitarist Marzi Montazeri (Heavy As Texas, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals) and they hit the ground running, playing gigs concentrating on material from the original two albums, before turning their attention to this, the “comeback” album.

What we have here is a thrash album, hugely influenced in particular by Testament, combined with groove in a manner which is incredibly accessible. Some may know Thomas from his time with Trouble (with whom he is still playing), and there is no doubt that he is quite some singer in the style of Chuck Billy. While he has plenty of power and range, he is a singer as opposed to a screamer and is fond of going into a lower register, especially when the music slows down. His annunciation is really clear for this style of music, and behind him he has a rhythm section which keeps it locked down and two guitarists who are obviously having a blast playing off each other.

Old fans of the band will be pleased to have them back, especially as they tear through the high-octane thrash of “Ripping Flesh” which originally appeared on the first demo, 1986’s ‘Get Rude’. If that isn’t enough, they also invited back original drummer Chris Nail to hold it all together. This is a fun romp, and let’s hope there is enough success for the band to keep it together and produce more albums like this one.