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EXITUS
Statutum Est Hominibus Mori (Reissue)

Svart (2013)
Rating: 7.5/10

Statutum Est Hominibus Mori is somewhat of a cult offering from the Svart Records camp. Finland’s Exitus are a gang that began life in 1989, only releasing one demo – a year later – before splitting up.

However, Statutum Est Hominibus Mori wasn’t just any old demo, and seemingly light years later it has been dusted down and given a reissue. This is rightly so, especially when one not only deliberates its doomy quality, but the fact that only 300 of these tapes surfaced back in the day, and seem to have vanished.

These mysterious Finns have all the creaky, stuffy quality of mid-80s metal acts such as Kreator, Slayer, Possessed and Celtic Frost, such is their basement production and those rather eerie guitars. As soon as those sneering vocals kick in, we’re transported back to the days of tape trading and underground bands, such is their earthy appeal.

The noise Exitus made was quite an evil one. Firstly, while they evoke images of all manner of mid-80s bands as stated, the best comparison I can award them is to think of the almost sludgy qualities of Hellhammer fused with a thrash-laced doom metal – if that’s at all imaginable.

The original demo only boasted two tracks as far as I know (or that might just have been the dodgy cassette I originally had?), although this reissue is a 30-minute slab featuring seven tracks. The opener is the introduction ‘The Metamorphosis’, which bleeds into the foetid embrace of ‘Black Heritage’. Meanwhile, the gloomy ‘Reprobate’ has all the unearthly delights of old Celtic Frost, especially in those soiled vocal snarls, the dense sounding guitar chug and the often weird bass structures.

There’s rarely a hint of pace, but it’s not tiresome doom and actually sounds far older than what it actually is when one reflects that this demo was being passed around during that second wave of doom metal with the likes of Cathedral at the helm.

There’s nothing polished about the whole affair, as proven with the silt-infested ‘Tears Of Despair / Hymn To Sorrow’, a track which just reeks of coffin scent for all of its seven-minute existence.

Of the seven tracks on offer, it’s most certainly ‘Reprobate’ that borrows far more from the old school sneer of Celtic Frost et al, and with its unexpected injection of lethal thrash. Lovers of truly mournful doom will revel in the ashen limbs of ‘Thanatos’ however, which closes the album as a morose slog.

I’m unsure as to why these guys never got the deal they deserved? Listening back, Exitus play a far more rewarding and effective – albeit dirtier – brand of doom metal than all of these stoner acts doing the rounds today.

This reissue of Statutum Est Hominibus Mori is made all the more appealing by the inclusion of a batch of previously unreleased live and rehearsal cuts on a bonus CD EP too. Therefore, if you want to experience a grotty, blackened cesspit of a doom record, then there’s no better way to start. All hail Svart Records for bringing the corpse of Exitus back to life.

Neil Arnold

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