‘Death Exhibition’ sounds like something that was buried sometime in the ’90s and only recently dug back up, except whatever happened to it underground has made it even more gruesome. There’s this constant feeling of rot hanging over the album that ‘Filth’ won’t let you escape from.
The riffs are a big part of that. They’re heavy as lead but still have this buzzing sawtooth quality that slices through the murk. Throw in the crushing drums and those ridiculously low, grizzly bear vocals, and it just feels enormous without the whole thing having to stay fast for the bulk of its length. There were certainly some instances where I could hear bits of Phrenelith beneath that subterranean lurch, while some of the more putrid old school bits immediately took me back to Mortuous.
What really anchored the mood for me though, were the dark synth elements sprinkled in here and there. They add a great ’90s Death Metal vibe, and make the slower parts seem like you’re digging deeper into the earth. And it never seems like Filth is just adding synths just to add synths to be “atmospheric”. They truly become a part of the unsettling atmosphere.
I think the best way I can describe ‘Death Exhibition’ is by comparing it to some old derelict catacomb. It gets thicker, darker and more decrepit the deeper you venture. Filth have been applying the old school Death Metal template that everyone has heard a million times before, then turning that filth into something truly vile, and that disgusting feeling is what dragged me through it.
