EXUMER — Possessed by Fire (review)

EXUMER — Possessed by Fire album cover Album · 1986 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
Back in the mid-eighties, I was excited about the thrash metal movement. I loved going to the metal section of the local music store and choosing albums to buy based solely on the cover and the band’s logo. I thought I had a pretty good collection going back then, but since last year I have been seeking out old school thrash bands from the eighties and I have been discovering so many that I never heard of.

One such band is Germany’s Exumer. While I was checking out a compilation video of 100 best old school thrash bands on YouTube, the track “Possessed by Fire” from the debut album with the same name came on for ten seconds or so. At the time, it sounded like pretty much everything else in that video, but as with many album covers, this one caught my attention for its absurdity. I would have just forgotten about Exumer had I not found them the next day on a list of 100 old school thrash metal albums on Rate Your Music. The comments for this album were very favourable, and soon I found it on a couple more lists and videos. So I decided to get a hold of a copy.

As it turns out, “Possessed by Fire” is a favourite thrash album of many, and the liner notes inside the CD include a comment from one band member about the album still being loved decades after its release, something that the band member finds “strange but comforting”. It’s interesting to note that the album was recorded by Harris Johns, the same fellow who did Kreator’s “Pleasure to Kill” and Sodom’s “Persecution Mania”, two albums I really like. But one thing that really differs here is the band’s sound. While Kreator and Sodom’s albums sound very brutal and almost like early signposts leading from thrash to death metal, Exumer’s brand of thrash is very much like the early Bay Area scene bands, with albums like Exodus’s “Bonded by Blood” and Death Angel’s “The Ultra-Violence” coming to mind. This is high-toned, speedy guitar thrash with some of the lead breaks sounding like they were inspired by Metallica’s “Kill ‘em All”.

One thing that’s easy for me to appreciate on this album though is how the band switch tempos and add in slower, heavy sections – a common technique for sure but used with sufficient skill on this album. There’s the occasional melodic guitar adding variety to an album that’s built around speed. Some of my favourite tracks include “Fallen Saint”, “A Mortal in Black”, and “Silent Death”, though the maniacal scream of “I am possessed by fire!” in the title track makes this a memorable song as well.

Though I wouldn’t rule out me buying another Exumer album in the future, for now this one was worth bringing home.
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