Who’d have bet on Cerebral Hemorrhage?
Having released a demo in 1999 and an album in 2001 before fading into oblivion, Matthew Szablewicz (vocals, Dracaris) and Matt Doreson (guitar/bass/keyboards/vocals, Coronary Thrombosis) called on Tom Kivatinos (drums) to create Exempting Reality, which comes back today with the confidence of Comatose Music.
Beaten and Dismembered opens with an ominous sample, but the brutality of American-style Death Metal quickly resurfaces to molest us with blasts of blast, but above all with this unique, dense Old School mix. Palm mutes add thickness to the moshparts before transforming into frenetic riffing, as on Abusive Power, a long composition that takes the place with an immediate aggressive approach, but doesn’t weaken throughout the six-minute track, always renewing its waves of raw power. There are a few spikes of technicality and terrifying backing vocals, then Remnants of the Final Solution begins to weave its anguished atmosphere, which the musicians complete with their thick saturation, but also with an intriguing clean-sounding break before a return to rage. The final eruption segues into Null and Void, a jerky creation where heaviness takes on different forms, then it’s with a touch of complexity that we move on to Exempting Reality, alternating playing techniques for a rather rich and diverse sound. The track seems perfect for possible live performances with its many changes, but the band moves towards dissonance with Deranged Perception, while complementing it with the fury of the drums, which never hesitate to ignite at the slightest opportunity. The finale sounds quite chaotic, as do the opening moments of Resulting in Homicide, which eventually slips into more classic but still effective patterns, even welcoming a brief moment of quietude before the intense finale.
Whether Cerebral Hemorrhage had sunk into the vast graveyard of underground bands, the musicians have succeeded in giving it a second lease of life with Exempting Reality. The album is far from a revolution, but it offers effective riffs and assertive Old School ideas.
75/100