For those of you who hasn’t heard of Angelcorpse, It’s a new band with Pete Helmkamp of ex-Order from Chaos, which was probably one of the most original and most respected blackened death metal band hailing from the US in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I never got a chance to hear the first album, Hammer of Gods, but I’ve heard reviews saying it was a total Altars of Madness worship album. I really didn’t find the Altars of Madness worship in Exterminate, though it does show up in a couple of riffs, especially in the guitar solos. Though, I must add that this is the most hateful and one of the fastest death/black metal band hailing from the US I’ve heard in this genre recently. The songs in here are quite long, ranging from three to six minutes long that doesn’t get boring easily. Is it maybe because of the catchy riffs and hyperfast blasting that’s quite similar to a cross between Nick Miller of Kataklysm’s Temple of Knowledge while adding the same intensity of Morbid Angel’s Pete Sandoval that are dominant in most of the songs? The vocals are basically reminiscence of Order from Chaos, which are raspy yet decipherable in some way. This is basically straight-forward, primitive hateful blackened death metal in the old Morbid Angel vein, with no whiny intros/outros, melodies and keyboards. Angelcorpse are one of the few remaining good death metal bands left and with this album, there’s no possibility of this band slowing down and following trends. I like this album and it keeps getting better and better each time I listen to it.

© 1998 grave
[this review originally appeared in INSOMNIA zine]