Locked into slow-panning, extended scenes of bubbling putrefaction and drying sinew Göthenburg, Sweden-based death metal trio FILTH direct the listener through yet another tunneling, grime glorifying delve into rotting remains via this unflinching sophomore full-length album. Carrying deeper pulses of doom and slow-trucking lunge heavy action ‘Death Exhibition‘ is less a tank and more a great foreboding wave of morbid possession, a series of head-down and barreling pieces which stalk and surround the senses. No less rooted in ‘new old school’ meta-structural death metal standards but now reaching for greater auld Nordic death intricacy their follow up here doesn’t rewrite their ethos so much as refine its expressivity unto darker climes.

Filth appeared out of thin air back in 2022, sans online presence or statement as far as I’ve gathered. After a two-song promo released in 2024 they’d been quickly signed for a debut LP (‘Time to Rot‘, 2025) which’d been well-received for its capture of Nordic and USDM ‘new old school’ traits. In review I’d suggested they’d rushed their debut milestone too quickly, achieving a professional stylized sound but without bold or compelling characterization. It was brief and dry in motion yet above-average nonetheless. In the years between the trio’ve refined that core ideal wherein Finndeath atmosphere gilds short, doomed and somewhat knotted movement. A little over a year later they’ve managed to put together a more substantive album experience which is no less brief but all the more concerned with primal neo-death grooves and ancient atmospheric dread.

The ‘To Mega Therion‘-level lurch of the riff which stirs opener “Split Casket” to life is an omen of things to come, a hit of tension before the song drags the skull through squealing lead guitar flair and circularly churning movements. The forward thrust of the band returns as their monodirectional clobber-and-dig approach continues to yield mid-paced ‘old school’ adjacent tendency but they’re reaching beyond the simplicity of the riff for effect. Otherwise “Buried Alive” introduces the larger modus of ‘Death Exhibition‘, a tendency to tap between slow-and-low death/doom seethe (+ some of their best Gorement level stuff on this song) and breaks into faster, twisted and pinch harmonic tipped squalls. You’ll have a pretty good idea of where the album is headed once you’re a few songs deep.

The Unleashed-like truck through “Born a Corpse” stands out for the boom-bap of its central groove and emphasizes its Swedeath edge later on though most folks probably wouldn’t guess Filth were Swedish on a blind listen. There are a few pieces here which reflect the moshable thunder of earlier Grave as well but their work here generally leans into groovier fast-moving riffs which circularly whip as they develop. Upping the riff count makes a difference in direct comparison with the band’s first album but here it is the moments where they reach for surreal atmosphere that lend ‘Death Exhibition‘ its greatest points of possession.

Beyond the brain-gripping molder of “Buried Alive” I’d found the various escalations of “Mental Butchery” and the doomed, horror synth assisted crawl in its second half offered the strongest song of the lot here. Contributing to the thick atmospheric glowering of the album’s midsection it also carries a certain ‘Eroded Thoughts‘ feeling finesse in its patiently hanging doomed trundling. Otherwise Instrumental “…Inhumed…” and its reprisal “…Exhumed…” contribute to the doomed Finndeath feeling vortex by way of synths, ominous riffcraft and extra slowed pace, dragging ‘Death Exhibition‘ deeper down into its second chapter. At ~34 minutes the album is basically over by the time the must of Filth‘s action fully unfurls into sense but they’ve done a fantastic job of leading with the riff and finding just the right amount of surreal wander to keep the mood from devolving of its focus.

‘Death Exhibition‘ had me convinced Filth‘d leveled up beyond their debut before the end of Side A had hit thanks to its density of action and unbroken focus upon grooving and slapping spiral-cut movement. Their mid-paced roaring roll doesn’t let up on the second half beyond the two aforementioned instrumental pieces but Side B generally avoids full-on escalation and sticks in its pocket. The title track (“Death Exhibition”) and the equally gnarled “Rotted Life” up the ante in terms of composition and pacing, creating a sensation of descent unto chaotic doom and this sort of saves the full listen from simply humming along. The closer is particularly choice in terms of sheer rhythmic stalk and swagger but it doesn’t evade the samey pace and texture of the whole deal.

While it’d be fair to suggest Filth aren’t about to shock listeners with charismatic bombast or unpredictive motioning on this second album they have deepened their reach into the obscure and forlorn enough to manifest a certain level of refinement. Their channeling of mid-paced, occasionally doom-scented lunging is yet engaging as an exercise of ‘new old school’ glomming into singular temperament. Feeding more riffs into that factory makes for a more entertaining second album just not one that’d knocked me out of my chair beyond a few exceptional pieces. A high recommendation.

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