UMUR
"Defectum Omnium" is the fourth full-length studio album by US thrash/groove metal act Exhorder. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in March 2024. It´s the successor to "Mourn The Southern Skies" from September 2019. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarists Vinnie LaBella and Marzi Montazeri have left. To replace them lead vocalist Kyle Thomas has picked up the guitar in addition to singing, and Pat O'Brien (Cannibal Corpse, Nevermore) has joined as the second guitarist. The split with especially founding member LaBella didn´t go down without some mud-slinging in the press, with LaBella saying that the current incarnation of Exhorder shouldn´t release music under the monicker without him in the lineup, as he was the main composer of the band´s music.
Thomas stepped up to the plate after LaBella left though, and he and his new bandmates (two of which also performed on "Mourn The Southern Skies" and have been with Exhorder since 2017) have managed to compose an album which sounds like Exhorder. Maybe the fact that none of the three predecing album releases featured a similar sound helps, because although you expect Exhorder to produce a heavy and groove laden thrash metal release, they never got to a point in their career of having settled on a sound. You could always hear that it was Exhorder playing but if you compare even the first two albums, which were released only a few years apart, they are very different in style.
Stylistically Exhorder still deliver a groove laden thrash metal style, but with both stoner, hardcore punk, and alternative metal influences. So they´ve spread their wings pretty wide on this one. Thomas has always been a powerful and skilled singer and his vocals are again strong and raw on "Defectum Omnium". The riffs are well written and the whole band deliver a sharp, heavy, and groove laden attack. Another feature which deserves a mention is the many well played guitar solos. Although slightly sterile the sound production is still of a good quality, and I especially enjoy the guitar tone and the vocal production. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.