As the rotting head of a craven new world rears its maw-level grin above the horizon in snide mockery Minsk, Belarus-based technical death metal trio EXIMPERITUS can be found channeling despair inward in due procession, enduring the passage of the coarse grit of existential dread while digesting all into self-preserving resolve on this exceptional third full-length album. Though it allows air enough to gasp out relief in between its most ruthless motioning ‘Meritoriousness of Equanimity‘ characteristically sports a succinct, high-density tunneling force from an otherworldly troupe, an alien entity hailing down meditations on resilience and the composure of a sound mind. In more practical terms we are afforded a third-level evolution of the band’s own vision on this third album, a feat which upholds their knack for technical and brutally hauled death metal given to an ever-expanding, deeper personalized ouevre.

Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum (re: Eximperitus) formed in anonymous commune circa 2009 and you can catch up on their general discography and how I see it via my review for their second LP (‘Šahrartu‘, 2021), an album I’d personally loved from the first listen. In fact I’d enjoy it enough that it was set as #9 on my Top 75 Albums of 2021 as I’d praised the album’s development in mind after many months of sitting with it beyond the process of review: “Much as I wanted to consider ‘Šahrartu‘ merely above average during the review process over time I’ve found the experience as a whole meditative, increasing in power with each sitting.” that is to say that it was a record that’d only claimed gains over the course of time. As for the point of ingress for this new album I’d suggest that if you appreciate the brutal ’til anesthetized sensorial vacillation found in recent records from labelmates Afterbirth, or, live and die for (peak) Nile-era underground classics such as ‘Elvenefris‘ you’ll immediately appreciate the tempestuous, rawly brutal yet introspective nodes found within Eximperitus‘ work.

Eximperitus‘ authorship reflects an intelligence which frequently muses upon the thrill(s) of excess which include both sonic and linguistic curiosities. This includes the development of contained themes which are illuminated by ancient history and the occult as well as future doom in creating a sense of dramatic and larger-than-life events per each release. In this third expansion of modus this means no less brutal acts yet increasingly streamlined sound design, a level of polish which allows for heightened expressivity as we’ll soon discover. This tangentially directs us to the larger observation of death metal’s plasticity in terms of core theme, a sub-genre which once solely sought to horrify the listener with the face of death and gain wisdom through exposure ’til metaphysical ponderance took ahold. Rather than convince the listener that death is not the end, or that death is inevitable and cruel, this album (by name) suggests the value of knowing thyself is utmost and that through this wisdom one will develop the even-keeled stoicism necessary to weather the way forward unto the new dark ages. My take, anyhow.

Though the entirety of ‘Meritoriousness of Equanimity‘ is suggested as a sojourn through composed of pieces which are self-contained it is hard to deny the well-linked flow through its fairly brief ~33 minute run, some manner of conjoined waves are expressed through its numerous transitional moments or interrelated motif. The first glom of tonally related pieces I’d suggest comes via the first four songs in the running order with “One Step Long Infinity” reminding the listener just what Eximperitus are capable of as a brutal-technical death metal band on the roar-in before slickly dipping into standout “Contemplation of the Plastic Fibers of Perfection at the Second Level of Reality”. This is the drop into the pit, the summoning of the hammer via its chugging mid-2000’s Hate Eternal worthy verses in its first half and the blasted-at, chaotic weave through the song’s arabesque melody and warbling lead guitars. Already the experience should read as less congested but not unrelated to the sound they’d achieved within ‘Šahrartu‘.

The brief instrumental “Twelve Centuries of Triumph of the Third Kingdom: the Idea of the Inner Creation of the Aristocratic Character of the Leader and the Process of Tempering Him in the Crucible of Trials in the Face of the Exaltation of Life as an Ode to the Heroic Ideals of Future Civilizations” introduces the motif which drives the central groove through “Finding Consistency in the Fourth Quadrant of Eternity”, the most clear-cut standout piece on ‘Meritoriousness of Equanimity‘. The impact of this song is difficult to describe as it begins to speak to something emotionally resonant yet surreal in its evocation of despair-unto-refugium, a side-effect of the petitioning layers of clean vocals which are featured within the piece. This is something new and well-measured from Eximperitus which speaks to an light ‘epic’ sensibility which enriches their approach to both melody and the riff beyond arabesque riff progressions. This though carries through the full listen as Kawir-esque long-soaring lead guitar melodies found on “The Untimely Fruit of the Unsaid” ring in mind, another sublime innovation within the band’s further expanding ouevre. It is hard not to feel a bit of Hellenic black metal rouse within the lead guitar arrange of this song, a peaking moment which finishes off Side A.

The second half of ‘Meritoriousness of Equanimity‘ proceeds with a similar sense of purpose but ultimately spaces out a bit (re: instrumental “Molecular Disintegration of an Unattainable Solitary Will in a Vessel of Wisdom…as a Result of the Soul’s Aspiration to Break the Summed Up Set of Delusions of Reason… in the Course of a Personal Experience of Accepting the Imperfection of the World and Proving that Time Gets Rid of the Fragile and Leaves Invulnerable”) adding to the sensation of passage in process. Otherwise the hammer of “Chalkionic Wandering Among the Wreckage of the Future” would typically catch my ear on repeated listens for the revving of the main/opening riff before Eximperitus drop into a mid-paced finale.

The whole of ‘Meritoriousness of Equanimity‘ doesn’t necessarily feel like an epic or a grand opus so much as a high-density object rippling with unsteady gravitational pull, forces which come in damning semi-regular waves which offers just enough relief on the way through. The effect is imposing and satisfyingly extreme as a follow-up to one of my favorite albums of 2021 and in this sense I am no less entertained and impressed by Eximperitus‘ return. For the uninitiated I’d probably suggest witnessing the full evolution of the band through their discography in full, for those in the know already this one is a no-brainer, still savage but willing to experiment in ways which serve the tone/theme of their work. A very high recommendation.

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