Band:	Exumer
Album:	Fire & Damnation
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	April 10, 2012
A review by:	Lemski

01. Fire & Damnation
02. Vermin Of The Sky
03. The Weakest Limb
04. A New Morality
05. Waking The Fire
06. Fallen Saint
07. Crushing Point
08. Devil Chaser
09. I Dare You
10. Tribal Furies
11. Destructive Solution [live bonus]
12. A Mortal In Black [live bonus]
13. Xiron Darkstar [live bonus]

When a band releases its first full-length album in 25 years, the initial reaction is why? And unless ample reasons can be found, the suspicion of milking the sacred cow looms blasphemously in the mind.

Exumer's 2012 release Fire And Damnation is by no means a shameless cash-grab, but nor does it constitute the comeback of the century.

The first thing to note is that there just isn't a whole lot of material here. With a running time of thirty three and a half minutes, and taking into account two rerecorded songs from their first two full lengths, as well as two tracks released in the last few years (2009's Waking The Fire demo and 2012's Fire And Damnation single) one yearns for fulfillment of the cliché?quality over quantity.

There certainly is quality to be found.

The most immediately apparent and inevitable improvement is in the production: This record is cleaner than an unused hospital bed, which compliments the surgical precision of the musicianship. Exumer are playing tighter than ever before, albeit sacrificing somewhat the careless intensity of their prior works. The modernized recording also opens up a thunderous bottom end, meaning this album packs a crueller punch at higher decibels.

In addition to production, or perhaps in part a result of it, original vocalist from the debut Possessed By Fire album Mem Von Stein is all but unrecognizable. However, his transformation from grainy screaming to a raspier shouting style fits Exumer's style of thrash to an inverted "t".

Having carved themselves a niche in the 1980s German thrash scene, Exumer has historically been overshadowed by fellow Deutchlanders such as Sodom and Kreator. However, with both aforementioned bands departing from their original sound (Kreator taking a melodic turn and Sodom displaying preference for mid-tempo war ballads), Exumer is possibly more relevant now than at their inception.

Fire And Damnation showcases simplistic song-writing, which is instantly gratifying if a bit uninspired. The result is a brainless good time, symptomatic of excessive head-banging. From the first prototypical riff of the title-track, the album aims straight for the throat, eventually loosening its grip at the half-way point. Exumer then resort to repeating old material, peppered with a few weaker original tracks.

On the subject of the two self-covers, the question once again presents itself. Why? Why choose to include a modernized rendition of "Fallen Saint", a track that has been heavily criticized for its unsettling similarity to Slayer's "Black Magic"? Surely "Destructive Solution" or "Xiron Darkstar" would have been more effective at alluding to Exumer's merciless aggression and stylistic diversity of years past (although these do appear as live bonus tracks). The second recycled song is "I Dare You" off the tepidly acclaimed Rising From The Sea album. While the song does feature some brain-bruising instrumentalism, the lyrics could pass as Nuclear Assault style self-satire if they didn't reek of ill-suited seriousness.

Overall, thrash enthusiasts can purchase this album assured of expectations met, but not exceeded.