About Us Without Us

Exorcizphobia is a Thrash Metal band from Czech Republic that formed in 2005. These lads already have a good bunch of releases, including two full-length studio albums. About Us Without Us is the title of their second album, showcasing a pretty unique take on Thrash Metal.

For whatever reasons this band reminds me of Voïvod's earlier days when they started including more and more psychedelic elements into their sound, adding more curves and twists and turns here and there. So yes, these Czech thrashers haven't chosen the main road to expose their own cavalcade of songs for the everyday consumer of the genre, but do something of their own, which is something that earns all of our respect. Even Tomás Skorepa on vocals and guitar manages to sound amazingly much like Snake of Voïvod at times. Add some Mark Osegueda (Death Angel fame) into his vocal approach and you pretty much have an idea what he sounds like.

As for the music itself, it has a strong Bay Area Thrash flavor to it as well, some parts making me believe they could in a Death Angel album. The riffs, the solos, etc. are all well executed, the album's furious and energetic title track working as a great indicator of these lads' ability to thrash, both a bit more sophistically and straight in your face.

The only thing I would complain about is the production. It's perhaps a tad muddy, not treating every instrument equally the same way. Bass surely is there somewhere in the background, but it's been overrun by the guitars' strong dominating sound.

This Czech band is definitely worth checking out, especially if you need some progressiveness in your daily injection of Thrash.