EXORCIZPHOBIA – Spiritual Exodus

Over the past 40 years, many bands have made their mark in Thrash Metal history such as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Overkill, Testament, and Exodus. Currently, in the 21st century, Metal isn’t favored the same way it was back in the day, but that doesn’t stop younger bands from following in the footsteps of their heroes. One of those bands is Exorcizphobia; they’re from Trutnov, Czech Republic and formed in 2005. Since coming onto the music scene, they’ve been pumping out studio albums, EPs, and split albums. Their most recent full-length album, Spiritual Exodus, is the follow-up to their 2020 album, Digitotality. The latter marked the first record with bassist Ales Kostka and drummer Tomas Kejkrt.

Great Instrumentation to Set a Certain Mood

To start off on a positive note, the playing on Spiritual Exodus is great. There are blazing solos, flavorful guitar work, and monstrous drumming. Kejkrt really knows how to work a kick drum (or two). The guitar work is interesting because it’s a mix of typical Thrash Metal shredding and more bluesy, emotive pieces, which is a breath of fresh air. “Down the Rabbit Hole” even briefly showcases what Exorcizphobia would sound like as a Southern Metal band. “Those Who Oppose” showcases a bluesier side to the band, while maintaining their Thrash Metal roots.

Exorcizphobia have a gift for setting a mood with their instrumentation, shown through the opening track, “Initiation,” which starts off as mid-paced and dramatic, before the vocals and tempo pick up over halfway through the song. Similar to how Metallica closes Ride the Lightning (1984) with “The Call of Ktulu,” Exorcizphobia end Spiritual Exodus with a grand instrumental called “Tiwanaku.” It closes the album in a dramatic and chilling way. Spiritual Exodus isn’t a long album either; it has eight tracks with a runtime of less than 40 minutes.

The Bad Outweighs the Good, to an Extent

As for the negatives, there are a few. For starters, the production drags the album down. The vocals are too raw in the mix and could’ve been cleaned up better. Also, the bass is too soft, which is a shame because the bass lines are quite good, very nasty in spots. What makes Overkill stand out from their competition are the juicy bass lines in their songs. A good bass line always gets listeners interested and Exorcizphobia should’ve taken advantage of that.

Another negative would be Skorepa’s lead vocals, which are not very good. Usually, if a Thrash Metal singer doesn’t have melody, they make up for it with their attitude and charm. Overkill’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth doesn’t have a lot of melody, but his raspy voice and toughness make him a force to be reckoned with. Skorepa, on the other hand, has neither melody nor attitude; he just screams the songs without any emotion. “Reflections” is the closest Skorepa gets to sounding like a melodic singer.

Final Assessment

Spiritual Exodus is more of a listening album, rather than a “paying attention to the songs” album. Considering the band’s chemistry, playing-wise, it’d be interesting to see what Exorcizphobia would sound like if they made an instrumental concept album or just an instrumental album overall.

Album Tracklist

1. Initiation
2. Violence and War
3. Reflections
4. Down the Rabbit Hole
5. Those Who Oppose
6. Ring-Pass-Not
7. Through a Glass Darkly
8. Tiwanaku (instrumental)

Band Lineup

Tomas Skorepa – lead vocals and rhythm guitars
Ondra Sima – guitars
Tomas Kejkrt – drums
Ales Kostka – bass guitar