Review by Michael on August 21, 2024.

When Slaughter Messiah's mastermind Lord Sabathan told me a couple of months ago that the guys would release some new stuff, my expectations were high because I remember how happy I was with their 2020 full-length Cursed To The Pyre. This super-appealing mixture between black and thrash wasn't anything that was completely new, but the Belgians found their own niche in that genre and I still love that stuff since then.

So here we go with the new EP Exorcized To None and what shall I say? Hm….. There is only one new track on it (the title track), two re-recorded songs from former Eps (Slaughter Messiah and Bells Of Damnation), and three live recordings from these three songs. This isn't much for four years of release absence, to be honest. But let´s check the three songs. 'Exorcized To None' starts with some horror movie intro and is a continuation of Cursed To The Pyrecreeping with some thrash riffs at first but not too long. After some whirring and slightly crooked tunes, the wild hunt begins. Lord Sabathan screams out his lungs, the tempo is much faster and the drums sound like a horse on the run. Thunderous, pummeling, and straightforward. What I personally like is that the tempo is intermittent so that the song has some really interesting twists and turns and isn't predictable at all. Here and there are also some more catchy parts incorporated and at the grand finale of the song a very epic guitar solo with some undeniable NWOBHM influences. Let's hope that there will be soon some more new stuff like this will be released by the Belgians.

'Bells Of Damnation' is a song that was originally released on their 2016 EP Morbid Re-Incantations but with the re-recording it got a little bit more power, a cleaner sound, and much more aggression and fury. Apart from that, the song is a really good one with a lot of classic metal-riffing again. Because of the catchiness, this is also one that comes over great live and is like 'Slaughter Messiah' a classic one at live shows.

And here we are at the self-titled song. This one is originally from the Promo Tape 2011 so one of the oldest tracks by the band. And somehow you can hear this. The song is much rawer and unpolished than newer stuff by them. A lot of Slayer influences can be found here (if Slayer was on 45 rpm) and Lord Sabathan is screaming like young Tom Araya and here and there are also some demonic deep grunts to find. Again, the sound is much better than on the original so 'Slaughter Messiah' has much more power now 13 years later. 

And now we have the three songs live again. 'Exorcized To None' was recorded in Warsaw in 2023, and has a good sound quality, 'Bells Of Damnation' is also from 2023 and was recorded at Kaltenbach Festival (Austria), and actually I don't know why the band decided to take this recording for the EP. The sound is really bad, only the vocals are clear to hear, and the rest is kinda mishmash sound wall. Maybe it depends on the fact that it was an outside festival, I don't know. 'Slaughter Messiah' is an older recording from 2021 in Oberhausen, Germany (when the scene could start playing live with an audience again) so that this might have some historical meaning for the band. Also here the sound isn't the best one but if my suggestion is correct, this may be fine.

So I am left with some really ambivalent feelings about this EP. The three studio recordings are really fine but I guess it would have made more sense to put two or three more new songs on Exorcized To None instead of three live recordings of these songs. But as I said, let's hope that Slaughter Messiah soon will deliver some more stuff in the form of a full-length!

Rating: 7.5 out of 10