(written by Islander)
“After more than two decades of relentless chaos, the blackened legions of Exordium Mors return once again, forging their path with maniacal speed, blistering melody, reckless vitriol, and sheer violent brutality. Their sound is hammered with an iron fist, delivering ruthless, in-your-face hostility.”
That is how PR materials we’ve received begin to introduce Sworn To Heresy, a new EP by New Zealand’s Exordium Mors that will be loosed upon the world by Praetorian Sword Records on March 1st. The words are in line with this band’s dominant reputation, a reputation for discharging sounds of frenzy and ferocity. But that is only part of the Exordium Mors story, albeit a significant part.
To quote ourselves this time, from our premiere of the band’s last album As Legends Fade and Gods Die (2022), their music “moves at a dizzying, high-octane pace,” generating “storms of vitriol and volatility,” but it also interweaves “mood-changing melodies that are sinister and gloomy but also exotic and brazenly imperious,” as well as incorporating “wild soloing that reaches epic heights.” And it has proven to be multi-faceted (“every song is a kaleidoscopic adventure”) and executed with surgical precision.
To return to the PR materials for the new EP, they promise “a bold evolution” in the band’s sound as Exordium Mors enter their third decade. What does this mean… and is it cause for concern?
For one thing, the band’s original vocalist Scourge has departed, and Exordium Mors now arm themselves with a tripartite vocal attack led by Santi, Black Mortum, and Assailant. Also joining the fold is The Nomad (Rvkkvs, Nullifier), “an annihilatory force behind the drum kit, pushing the band’s sonic assault to unprecedented speeds and dynamics never before heard in Exordium Mors’ arsenal.” And you may also read that the new songs are even more nuanced and distinctive than before.
We’ve all learned to take PR promises with a few grains of salt (or sometimes a shaker-full), and so it’s always valuable to have concrete demonstrations. We have one today, through our premiere of one of the new EP’s three songs. Its name is “Oath.”
Immediate impressions: “Oath” is a diabolical whirligig of sound — inventively intricate and elaborate, vocally vicious and unhinged, technically eye-popping, and swiftly changing in its moods, which range from ecstatically maniacal to magisterial and esoteric.
But so much happens, and so much of it is head-spinning, that it takes way more than one run-through to grasp all the song’s marvels, and to fully appreciate the instrumental idiosyncrasies and dexterity, and all the barbed hooks the band have packed into the song’s sub-five-minute runtime.
One of those hooks arrives quickly, as chords blare and notes quickly climb a ladder while others squeal, and as the drumming and bass-work gives you a first taste of how quickly and unpredictably they will change. And then the band surge into greater mania with riffing that’s viciously thrashy and euphorically swirling, matched by a chorus of demon voices that rapidly scream and gnash, growl and roar.
The richly layered and highly accelerated fretwork is electrifying, and morphs without warning as it creates variations on the musical theme, capped at its zenith by an exultant mind-bender of a solo.
And then the song moves into a different phase, slowing and becoming more grand (with dauntingly momentous fanfares), but still laced with a multitude of fretwork fevers that provide elaborate traceries which simultaneously sound distressing, desperate, exotic, and glorious.
Thankfully, the band still prefer clarity in the production of their music, all the better to help absorb all the many moving parts of this ravishing and imperious spectacle.
I’ll share one more excerpt from my review of their last album, because I think the observation still rings true after hearing the new EP: “Yes, the music is sinister, generally unhinged, and frequently violent, but there’s a sense of unchained revelry — joy in execution, joy in expression, joy in the defiance of an outsider — that stands gloriously out front of all else.”
EXORDIUM MORS is:
Guitar/Vocals: Black Mortum
Guitar/Vocals: Santi
Bass/Vocals: Assailant
Drums: The Nomad
Sworn To Heresy was recorded and mixed at Dynamic Rage Studio by Cam Sinclair and Raj Singarajah, and it was mastered at Primal Mastering by Luke Finlay. It’s completed with artwork by Benny Diez. It will be available digitally and physically at the locations linked below.
We’re also helping spread the word about Exordium Mors‘ first European tour, which will begin in February and includes an appearance at the Horns Up Festival in Greece. Here’s the current schedule:
25.02.2025 Klub Fest – Belgrade, Serbia – Exordium Mors, Kolac
26.02.2025 AKC Gnezdo – Krusevac, Serbia – Exordium Mors, Kolac
27.02.2025 OldSkulls Club – Sofia, Bulgaria – Exordium Mors, Kolac, Threat
28.02.2025 Club Sixty Six Crew – Thessaloniki, Greece – Exordium Mors, Kolac, Melinoe
01.03.2025 Ανδρομέδα μουσικό στέκι – Trikala, Greece – Horns Up Festival
03.03.2025 Architecture Rock Café – Athens, Greece – Exordium Mors, Enthroned Serpent
PRE-ORDER:
Digital: https://exordiummors.bandcamp.com
Physical (Praetorian Sword Records): https://praetoriansword.company.site
EXORDIUM MORS:
https://linktr.ee/exordiummors
http://www.facebook.com/exordiummors
http://www.instagram.com/exordiummors
