Ex Dementia - The Red Mass

November 12, 2009

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

Ex Dementia is a young New Jersey band playing an enjoyable, straight-forward brand of “older-school” death metal, and sophomore album The Red Mass is a quick and entertaining romp around the gore-soaked, horror inspired slam death slaughterhouse.  The obvious point of reference here is the almighty Razorback Records, with their hordes of bands like Frightmare, Fondlecorpse and Ghoul basically all playing horror themed slammy death metal, and to be honest, I had to check several times to see if in fact The Red Mass had been put out by that label.  Well it’s not on Razorback, but the band and label are so perfect for each other that I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some future partnership manifests itself.  Impaled is another comparison that can obviously be made here, particularly on the title track with it’s stomping, grooving middle section, and Ross Sewage even shows up for a small guest vocal spot on “Splattervision Channel 2”.  Ex Dementia seems to be gaining momentum in the metal underground, and they’ve been booked to play the Maryland Deathfest pre-show in 2010, a high-profile gig that they undoubtedly deserve.  

The Red Mass is a fine album, and is sure to appeal to most fans of death metal, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the album’s running time, which is basically the only problem here.  Eight original tracks, plus a pretty sweet cover of Venom’s “Welcome to Hell”, and the disc clocks in at twenty-four minutes.  Take out the time used for C-level horror flick samples, and we’re talking a full-length album that barely breaks the twenty minute mark.  That’s not a ton of metal for your money to be honest, even if the metal is top-notch.  It’s unfortunate, really, because it could definitely become a factor in potential consumers’ decisions on whether or not to give the band a try which, of course, they should.  Ideally, the material on the preceding EP In the Chapters of Horror (also excellent) should have been included on this album rather than being released separately. 

Release Date: October 31st, 2009
Label:  HPGD Productions

TRACK LISTING

1.  Shadow In The Chapel
2.  Mud And Blood
3.  Dead! Nude! Dancers!
4.  The Radiant Ravenous
5.  Belial The Basket Case
6.  Splattervision: Channel 2
7.  The Red Mass
8.  Liquid Flesh
9.  Welcome to Hell
     (Venom cover)

Total playing time: 24:07

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