EXCRUCIATE — Passage of Life (review)

EXCRUCIATE — Passage of Life album cover Album · 1993 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Passage of Life" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Excruciate. The album was released in 1993 through Thrash Records. "Passage of Life" was recorded and mixed at Sunlight Studio with producer Tomas Skogsberg.

Bearing the above info in mind, it´s no surprise that the music on "Passage of Life" is old school Swedish death metal. Excruciate had been around since the early nineties, releasing a couple of acclaimed demo tapes and a split with Epitaph, but unfortunately it wasn´t until 1993 that this debut album was released. "Passage of Life" was already recorded in November - December 1991, so my guess is, that it was label problems (probably issues finding a label) which resulted in the late release date. It´s actually a shame because "Passage of Life" already sounded a bit outdated in 1993. You have to understand that the death metal scene where in rapid movement in those years and what was thought of as "new" in 1991 could already sound "old" in 1993.

Taking that into consideration "Passage of Life" is however a good example of how Swedish death metal sounded in 1991. The vocals are brutal, the guitars are downtuned and have a thick crunchy brutal sound, the bass is gone in the mix and the drums are relatively simple and effective. Pretty much the recipe for most old school Swedish death metal acts back in the day (although Excruciate stand out a tiny bit for having the occasional deathgrind influence and not many hardcore influences). Of course there were acts who stood out, but the music on "Passage of Life" is pretty much run of the mill old school Swedish death metal and I can´t find any sensible reason to seek out this album instead of some of the early classic albums by for example Entombed, Dismember, Therion, or Grave. Still the album features some pretty well executed old school Swedish death metal so a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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