Oftentimes you can tell exactly what a CD is going to sound like just by looking at which label released it. Razorback Records releases old school death metal and goregrind. Willowtip Records releases technical death metal and grindcore. No Escape Records is nothing but goregrind. Ibex Moon Records, which is the demon child of Incantation founder John McEntee, release dark death metal. Based on that understanding, it should come as absolutely no surprise that Chile-based Thornafire’s Ibex Moon Records debut offering Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation is, in fact, dark death metal. Pretty good dark death metal at that!

Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation contains 10 tracks, and over 45 minutes, of mid-to-high paced catchy black metal-fused dark death metal. The material itself isn’t very original, it’s obvious the band is big fans of Immolation, Incantation, Morbid Angel and the like, however the song writing and performances are very good and it minimizes the impact of the lack of overall uniqueness to the band’s sound.

The riffing of Victor MacNamara is heavily influenced by John McEntee, Bob Vigna and Trey Azagthoth as he emulates many of their tendencies, like McEntee’s catchy chugging riffs, Vigna’s odd progressions and diminished chords and Azagthoth’s melodies. Throughout the album you can easily identify his sources of inspiration, but he plays with enough technical skill to make up for it.

The bass lines of Alexis Munoz are solid and although his vocals do lack the raw power of a Ross Dolan or Craig Pillard, it does suit the material. Juan Pablo Donoso also proves himself to be a capable drummer with his relentless assault on the kit.

The song writing of Thornafire is hit and miss. "Curse Of The Supreme", "Eve’s Flesh Delirium" and "Clergy’s Betray" are all extremely entertaining from beginning to end, but "Offering And Desecration Of Mosheh" and "Deflagracion" seem to lead nowhere. It just seems as though the band wrote 25 minutes of solid material and tried to pack in an extra 20 minutes worth of material. By the midway point of the CD I found my interest starting to wane, but I was able to make it through listening to the entire album on several occasions so it’s definitely not terrible, just the weaker material isn’t terribly exciting.

Overall, Thornafire provide a pretty solid dose of dark death metal throughout the 46 minutes and 20 seconds of Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation. The band is certainly capable of playing high level dark death metal and I am interested in hearing new material from the band, although I am hoping they put in a bit more effort during the song writing process. That said, Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation is definitely a worthwhile purchase for any fan of dark death metal, it’s not very original, but it is extremely well played. It’s a solid release and Thornafire have built a solid foundation for the future. I look forward to hearing how much the band progresses on their next offering.

Written By: Teufel