It’s often said that music nourishes the soul. If that is true then Death Exhibition by Filth nourishes my soul in the same way a rotten, stinking carcass nourishes a vulture’s hunger. And frankly, that’s probably the nicest thing I can say about it.
Filth have produced a record that feels rather like crawling headfirst into the slimiest, most rancid parts of the human anatomy. This is ugly music, deliberately so! A grimy concoction of death metal that seems hell-bent on making every riff as infectious as possible.
The guitars grind and chug away with abput as much elegance as industrial machinery, while the vocals emerge from somewhere beneath the floorboards…perhaps even beneath the earths crust. The production is suitably rotten without sacrificing clarity. Yes, everything sounds overwhelmingly fleshy and oppressive, but the clarity of the individual instruments manages to remain largely intact. It’s lucky then, that this is a band who clearly know how to get the most from their instruments!
It’s when Filth lock into a disgusting groove and refuse to let go that this album really gets the listeners saliva flowing. Split Casket is an immediate highlight, opening with a lumbering, almost doom riff before erupting into filthy old-school death metal, while the squealing lead work gives the track a particularly nasty edge. Mental Butchery is another standout, initially driven by eerie lead guitar before the tempo starts to lurch and fracture, eventually descending into a thick, murky finale. Rotted Life closes the record with dissonant guitars and a late burst of speed that provides one of the album’s most genuinely vicious moments. However, the real curveball is …Inhumed…, an instrumental built around flanged bass and dark, twisting guitar textures that gives the album an unexpectedly atmospheric centre.
That’s not to say that Death Exhibition isn’t without its shortcomings. The band’s commitment to filth occasionally comes at the expense of variety. When every riff is designed to sound more diseased than the last, eventually they do start to blend together a bit. A tad more dynamic contrast could have made the genuinely savage moments hit considerably harder…but perhaps expecting refinement from a record called Death Exhibition is missing the point entirely.
This isn’t music designed to be analysed over a nice cup of tea (or glass of wine for that matter), it’s music for when you want to drink battery acid and feel like your ears are full of cockroaches. There’s no attempt at grandeur, no unnecessary virtuosity on show, no frills and certainly no prisoners taken. Death Exhibition is just a downright ugly and confrontational album for fans of death metal.
Filth have made a record that sounds exactly like its title suggests. It’s sweaty, it’s foul and it has absolutely no interest in your wellbeing…thankfully. I shall certainly be returning to this one!!
Best Paired with – An antacid, an old bucket and a jar of pickles.
Reviewed by Bryn.
Filth – Death Exhibition is out now on Me Saco Un Ojo.
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