Excruciator
By The Gates Of Flesh

November 2010
Released: 2010, Heavy Artillery Records
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Robert Williams

Portland Oregon's Excruciator having one previous demo recording under their belt, are the latest band to be featured in Heavy Artillery's "Wax Maniax Demo Series" in an exclusive hand numbered pressing of 200 vinyl and 500 CD's.



Excruciator pay homage to German thrash pioneers like Kreator and Sodom on EP opener "Nuclear Exmortis". Vocalist Chris Birkley sounding a bit like Kreator frontman Mille Petrozza in his early Noise Records days. The recording has an extremely raw and honest quality about it. Don't expect to find a lot of studio overdubs on tap on this EP. This could have been recorded in a beer soaked rehearsal studio and I wouldn't know the difference. Fortunately the guys that make up Excruciator are pretty tight musically speaking and the rawness seemingly adds to the aggression of their compositions. "The Edenwitch of Torment" begins with somewhat of a loose, jammy feel before kicking into overhaul come verse time. This track is an asskicker, with a pretty vicious sandpaper throat vocal delivery and an assaulting, percussive rhythm section backing things up. BY THE GATES OF FLESH closes with it's title track, a rowdy speed metal romp that is close in feel to the output of the grimier side of the eighties underground.



Overall this five song EP is a nice way to introduce Excruciator to the masses. I love that BY THE GATES OF FLESH is available in both vinyl and CD formats. I think Heavy Artillery Records understand their target demographic extremely well and cool collector's sets like the "Wax Maniax Demo Series" is ample evidence of this.