review: Xpus

Xpus

In Umbra Mortis Sedent

Transcending Obscurity Records

8 May 2020

The band may not have done themselves any favors with their name nor with an album title that only students of Latin might know how to say, but all those impressions will fall away once the obscurantist extreme metal begins. From which bands from the 1990s does this band take inspiration? Debate! That is indubitably a fun conversation to be had at our country mansion over a cup of tea after a long day of riding the horses in the English countryside. While sitting in that comfortable chair by the chimney you and our friends could kick back and sip on our tea and exchange ideas about the early 1990s, but this is 2020. What if consider the music at hand, shall we?

1.The feeling of obscurantism is central to the album, taking the usual marketing strategies and selling points used by cult, non-commercial extreme metal for decades. In other words, the band sells the traditional themes, and they wear costumes and masks, too, as part of a stage presence.

2.The songwriting is linear, headbanging. Things may slow down for some brief periods, but it’s not long before it’s off to the races again.

3.The guitar work has a death/black metal vibe. Sometimes it sounds like black metal guitar with a death metal production, or like death metal jumping the fence and stealing all of black metal’s thunder.

4.Perhaps a rather accurate way to describe the vocals would be to say that it is a very throaty form of growling. In this case, it is best to listen for yourself and see if it bothers your ears or whether it sounds good to you.

Overall, the music seems very well thought out, done very much with a specific purpose in mind, and not like a younger band trying to find their sound. Apparently, this is only their second album following their 2015 debut, but they seem to have been making noncommercial extreme metal for a long time, including two of the members’ activities going as far back as the 1990s. This one is for the obscurantists in the crowd.

xpus.bandcamp.com