Rating: 7.6

Country: USA

Genre: Death/Thrash Metal

Record Label: HPGD Productions

Release Date: 2008

Track list:
1. The Buzz Is Back
2. Subway Savages
3. Double Dose of Death
4. Parasitic Terror
5. Kill Yourself (S.O.D.)
6. Thou Shall Repulse (live)
7. Double Dose of Death (live)

Total playing time 16:00

Band Website: Ex Dementia

Ex Dementia - In the Chapters of Horror

Chris - Guitar & Vocals
Branden - Drums
Joe Van Hettiga - Bass

After pleasing the listeners with their full length debut, Ex Dementia return a year later with a sizzling EP. Thou Shall Repulse was an entertaining album no doubt but a terribly unoriginal one too. They played in Razorback Record's horror themed death/thrash style and with that they did everything right; alas we heard one too many bands of that kind. That thrust us with unneeded immunity from Ex Dementia's undeniably infectious music and rendered Thou Shall Repulse hopelessly predictable. Ex Dementia had to evolve and spice things up and how they were going to do it was anybody's guess. All the metal world knew is that no one wanted yet another album in that style, for it had lost its appeal and become redundant a long time back.

Somehow, Ex Dementia have pulled off the near impossible feat on this EP. They sound really fucking good here, definitely in their element. If Ex Dementia were twitching like a fish out of water on Thou Shall Repulse, then In the Chapters of Horror is where Ex Dementia are in the water and thrashing like a motherfucker. The death metal part of their music has noticeably become stronger and very rightly so – the music needed that punch and heaviness. It has found the pair of balls it was looking for and strapped it on without thinking twice. Growls have become thicker and powerful, reminiscent for the most part of Dave Ingram (Benediction) or Barney Greenway. Rasps no longer sound like a chronic phlegm-ridden granny and now have a potent grindcore quality to them. Drums pound heavily and ensure that support is provided to the parts susceptible to sagging. Riffs are meaty and scrumptious, the guitar tone being satisfying and almost having a putrid vibe to it. Though the music is still unoriginal, its varied ingredients are much more finely grounded before being mixed and used for their compositions. The songs are shorter and racier and seemingly devoid of any filler parts.

Where the songs on Thou Shall Repulse were like stimulating taps on the cheek, the ones on In the Chapters of Horror are like scorching slaps on the face with a large red hot barbeque spatula. The main drawback of this release is its very short running time of 8 minutes, okay 10 if you count the well done S.O.D. cover song. The live songs sound weak and serve little purpose apart from increasing the playing time. But the fantastic artwork and extraordinary printing quality by HPGD Productions greatly up the value of this release. Oh and do watch out for their upcoming full length album; it's likely to be a killer.

June 30, 2009