Promising to conquer far beyond the vast oceans that surround their hostile command Auckland, New Zealand-based black-thrashing death metal quartet EXORDIUM MORS return for a brief but potent mLP release to restate their ranks and flex the wrath of their enduring vision. Now enhanced in their collectively sourced voice and in feature of a new throne-kicker in place ‘Sworn to Heresy‘ marks an appropriately wrathful point of reintroduction per these veteran extremists as they adapt along their serpentine path toward global violence. Fans of the riff at its most volatile and austere will find either gateway or fresh witness to the sublime cull these folks have brought for the last two decades.

Exordium Mors have been around since 2004 and have generally been described alongside the blackened thrash and death metal elite, typically bands with roots back to the early 90’s or even 80’s be it Absu, Impiety or even Angelcorpse where an appropriate contemporary for their work would be London’s Scythian in terms of tone, temperament and general traditional riff-obsessed heavy metal inspiration driving the shape of things. I’d described their path well enough in review of their second LP (‘As Legends Fade and Gods Die‘, 2022) which I’d liked enough to include at #82 on my Top 100 Albums of 2022 with great appreciation for the peaking station of that album. That is the mark of quality, the expectation set going forth and a high standard for guitar built destruction in general… and it’ll be a mountain to re-climb as the band’ve reconfigured themselves since then.

If the band’s second LP was a peaking point of refinement in my ear then let this EP be an expression of pure violence which escapes none of the tact and technical aggression you’d expect from guitarists Santi and Black Mortum who’ve long been the spine of Exordium Mors. That said those two, alongside bassist Assailant, have collectively taken on the vocal duties for these three songs after the exit of the band’s longtime vocalist Scourge Witchfucker and the instatement of drummer The Nomad who already features in related deathgrind band Rvkkvs. What this means for the band’s sound is a more immediate, rawed-up approach that moves as a spectre of many voices, the strikes of a hoard of chaotic beasts which only occasionally finds a point of fixation as we’ll find on “Torquemada” which swells and swarms with a concerted combination of vocal types (see: ~2:07 minute mark) to familiar yet feral effect. While this occasionally lacks the precision of their most recent LP in terms of a leading voice it makes for a more bestial thrill, an exciting roar which surprisingly suits an outright barrage from a band who’ve often been deliriously perfectionist on past releases.

The main event here is “Dawn of the Crimson Sun”, a strong reminder of the black-thrashing mania of their riffcraft and its kinetic style, familiar but erupting with a trampling and fill-heavy drum performance which adds some extra flair and electricity to their grind through. Adding a point of respite around ~3:49 minutes in helps this song to leave a dent in mind and not fully burn through its momentum outright as the jogging ride out of that moment is probably the most “heavy metal” moment on the EP. Though the whole of this ~16 minute kills the major piece here for my taste is “Oath” as not only the finest example of dual guitar interplay set forth on this EP but a set of riffs that recalls the rush of ‘Absu‘ circa 2009, of which I am a huge fan, as the song eventually centers its major movement around an arabesque melody which is thrashed throughout.

Since ‘Sworn to Heresy‘ is such a short experience and likely to pull in the die-hards first I’d offer general assurance that Exordium Mors still rule and that these necessary changes occurring within their sound have opened up some less typical, or, even just more fiery and impressive possibilities for the band and their always impressive gig. For the newcomers or unindoctrinated this should be a short shock of riff-obsessed thrashing black/death that best introduces their still smoking hot discography. A high recommendation.

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