Review by Alex Grindor on October 29, 2024.

After popping into my radar with their jarring sophomore release The Mother Of Virtues, Pyrrhon is a band that I follow with bated breath. Every release since has been an absolute joy to listen to and on September 6th, 2024, with pretty much zero warning, they dropped their contender for album of the year with Exhaust, their shortest album to date with a more compact, yet still blistering and tumultuous approach.

Exhaust wastes no time in its presentation, plunging the listener straight into their formula of audial assault that has been distilled and perfected by this point in their career. Atonal riffs and melodies, supported by caustic bass patterns and lunatic drum bashing, toppled with Pyrrhon's trademark vocals that oscillate between furious shouting, fiendish growls, and defeated recitation. What this album offers however is a somewhat more approachable experience than previous efforts. It features 10 tracks with almost none of them exceeding the 4-minute mark, the longest being barely over 5, a sharp contrast with many of their previous albums that had songs that stretched over 8-11 minutes. This results in a more tight, compact album that is as effective as previous ones, losing not even a pinch of effectiveness and containing a variety of twists and turns at every turn, from twisted doom-like sections to somewhat spoken passages to more regular rhythms that deteriorate in a cacophonous crescendo. Production-wise, everything is just in its right place. The formula has already been established and it has just been perfected since, and even in its clarity it is a chore to even try to discern what is it that the guitars are playing. There is pretty much nothing else to say in this regard, it's really well done.

The feral beast that once lashed out at everything in its sight leaving a messy trail has evolved into an apex predator; quick, efficient, but still fiendish. That would be the analogy I'd use to describe Pyrrhon's evolution up to this, their latest album. They managed to hone their work, make it tighter, but it doesn't make it less jarring or threatening. To listen to Exhaust is to subject to its namesake, but it is worth every fucking second of it.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10