EPITAPH — Excruciate / Epitaph (review)

EPITAPH — Excruciate / Epitaph album cover Split · 1991 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
Released in November 1991 through Infest Records, this release is a split between the two Swedish death metal acts Excruciate and Epitaph. The split features all material from Excruciate´s second demo tape "Hymns of Mortality" from January 1991 (except closing track "Sabbath in the Mortuary") and all material from Epitaph´s first demo tape "Disorientation..." (July 1991). The split was originally released on 12" vinyl and limited to 3.000 copies.

While neither Excruciate nor Epitaph achieved much commercial success, and are seldom mentioned along with seminal Swedish death metal acts like Nihilist/Entombed, Dismember, Grave, and Unleashed, both bands were a part of the late 80s/early 90s Stockholm scene and made some waves in the underground demo tape trading community with their demos releases.

Excruciate play a deathgrind influenced brutal death metal style, which doesn´t sound inherently Swedish. It´s intense, featuring deep growling vocals, and some fast-paced grinding parts spiced up with heavier mid-paced death metal parts. "Hymns of Mortality" is definitely a demo worth a listen, but it´s not the most groundbreaking nor the most unique sounding Swedish demo release.

The material from the "Disorientation..." demo by Epitaph is slightly more interesting and also a bit more unique in sound. Epitaph started out in 1989 under the Dark Abbey monicker and played a vicious, grim, and aggressive style of death/thrash metal, but after changing their name to Epitaph in 1990 they started incorporating more death metal elements (like growling vocals and heavier brutal riffs and rhythms), which is the sound you hear on "Disorientation...". Epitaph still play a lot of sharp and brutal thrash metal riffs and rhythms, but in a death metal context.

Both demos are relatively well produced and both feature solid musicianship and decent songwriting ideas, so it´s a split release worth checking out for fans of the early Swedish demo death metal scene. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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