Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Thornafire Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation Company: Ibex Moon Records Release: 2007 Genre: Death Reviewer: Grim Gaijin

If you are a fan of mid to late-90's death metal...

I'll have to admit, I've had a love/hate relationship with death metal for the past couple of years. Some of my favorite bands (of the past) have put out disappointing releases, and a lot of new bands are going so overboard with the "extreme" concept, that it sometimes doesn't seem to make any sense. Unfortunately, I'll have to throw Thornafire's Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation in this same category. Overall, it's not a bad release, but there is nothing memorable on it that has me calling up my friends and saying, "dude, you gotta check this shit out!"

The first song, "Curse of the Supreme", switches between mid-tempo thrash riffs and death metal riffs with very few spots of blast beats. Not a bad song, but I would have put a faster, heavier song as the album opener to spark the interest of the listener. "Eve's Flesh Delirium" is slightly faster, but with recycled riffs that we've all heard before. "Offering And Desecration of Mosheh" has a typical mid-90's death metal feel (think Individual Thought Patterns-era Death). "Clergy's Betray" starts with a thunderous intro, followed by some very atmospheric riffs. "Mata, Que Dios Perdona" is a short intro that leads into the blistering "From Dominated To Dominators". The riff and vocal patterns remind me of Covenant-era Morbid Angel (which is not a bad thing considering that is probably my favorite Morbid Angel album). "Deification of the Four Fallacies" is a brutal song - probably the best on the album. Great vocals, and the pace thrashes for the duration of this 5+ minute song. Next comes "From Punishment To Advent", with a great thrash metal riff and double-bass drumming. Soon though, the tempo slows and becomes uninteresting. "Fertility Initiation" is a great song with some superior blast beats and a brutal rhythm section. The album closes with "Deflagracion [sic]". Not a bad song, but the build up to the sick blast beat section takes too long, especially considering this song is one a little over the 3 minute mark.

Thornafire's Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation is not my favorite death metal album by any means, and probably won’t make its way back onto my iPod, but I would definitely rather listen to this than any of the bands from the (extremely unoriginal) Deathcore scene. If you are a fan of mid to late-90's death metal, then you may actually enjoy this release. However, if you are looking for the next big thing in death metal, then skip this release all together!