Band:	Exhorder
Album:	Defectum Omnium
Style:	Groove thrash metal
Release date:	March 2024

01. Wrath Of Prophecies
02. Under The Gaslight
03. Forever And Beyond Despair
04. The Tale Of Unsound Minds
05. Divide And Conquer
06. Year Of The Goat
07. Taken By Flames
08. Defectum Omnium / Stolen Hope
09. Three Stages Of Truth / Lacing The Well
10. Sedition
11. Desensitized
12. Your Six

Exhausted.

Having re-introduced themselves to the metal world at large with their comeback statement Mourn The Southern Skies, Exhorder looked to build on the foothold that the band had carved out for themselves. Unfortunately, Defectum Omnium ("The Failure Of All", in case you were wondering) sees Exhorder slip from said foothold and produce an album that makes the title all the more ironic.

Despite that foreshadowing, not all is lost here. Oddly enough, for a band commonly associated with Pantera, the first thing you'll think when "Wrath Of The Prophesies" kicks in is how much it sounds like Slayer: an adrenaline0fuelled start to proceedings. After kicking down the door, the band leads into "Under The Gaslight", which drops the tempo, but replaces it with a bouncy groove that will get you moving; said groove is perhaps the band's strongest suit, and the one that made their name all those years ago. When the band stick to these lanes, Defectum Omnium excels, with "Year Of The Goat" and "Desensitized" adding further moments where the band find their old groove and breathe new life into it.

The issues, however, become evident from the opening track, that being that you will spend more time thinking about who Exhorder sound like rather than what they sound like, as the album lacks much to really leave an impression on you. That's not to say the band sound generic, but any kind of identity gets lost in a mid-tempo malaise, typified by "Your Six", with little musically to catch the ear and everything instead just passing by in a blur of disinteresting noise.

The addition of Pat O'Brien was an interesting musical choice, one that seemed an exciting prospect when it was announced. While some of the solos ("Forever And Despair") are engaging, the rest of the guitarwork doesn't live up to the hype, leaving the album devoid of riffs or hooks to pull you in. This isn't exclusive to O'Brien, however, as the rest of Exhorder fall into the same pitfall: well played parts, but what they're playing isn't interesting.

It is when listeners arrive at "The Tale Of Unsound Minds" that the cracks that could be overlooked up to this point ultimately widen into chasms that can't be bridged, even with all the good production and musicianship that it has. As for "Defectum Omnium/Stolen Hope", what is supposed to be a slow building, lumbering track that builds to its final crescendo, instead is a dull slog to a payoff that is an unsatisfying damp squib. The fact they followed this up with another track in the same vein ("Three Stages Of Truth/Lacing The Well") fills you with more emotion than either track accomplishes, albeit with said emotion being the dread of another boring meandering ahead.

Hopefully the band are able to recover from Defectum Omnium with their next release, as there are moments scattered around the album demonstrating that Exhorder still have that magic in them. However, no amount of magic moments can salvage this album.