Exmortem - Labyrinths of Horror (1995)

Out of all of the Scandinavian death metal scenes, Denmark harbors perhaps the most brutal. Yeah, yeah, I know... Sweden, Finland, yada, yada... See, the thing is, sure, those countries boast some of the greatest death metal bands of all time, but there's something especially bloodthirsty and violent about many of their Danish counterparts. In fact, I'm fairly convinced that Denmark is more influenced by the U.S. death metal scene than they are their European brethren.

Exmortem is one of the more frighteningly brutal bands to emerge from out of the sewers otherwise known as the mid-'90's Danish death metal scene which also boasted the likes of Iniquity, Illdisposed, Infernal Torment and Dominus, to name a few.

If I had to pick a reference point I would probably have to go with the first Bloodbath album as well as Binah's debut. We're talking some fairly low-tuned, chunky madness here. The riffs can be surprisingly "notey" at times when things aren't being ground to a pulp under the weight and ferocity of the low end. The vocals are absolutely monstrous and have a habit of overwhelming the rest of the instruments once they rear their ugly head, of which I do not mind one bit.

I know many folks will tell ya that each Exmortem album sounds the same but I thoroughly disagree. This is by far the standout album in their career. Sure, the production may have gotten better with each subsequent release, but this is by FAR where the fuck it's at, not to mention that this may be my favorite death metal album to come out of Denmark.