When you think about seriously Heavy and Thrash Metal you probably think American, the UK, Germany, Netherlands, a lot of places but all of a sudden a destructive force has risen from France by the name of EXORCIZER.

Make no mistake; these dudes bring it loud, hard, and proud. This writer started banging his head from the opening riffs of "Blood Curse" and never stopped as the bone crunching guitars tore into my flesh joined by the razor-edged work of the bass and drums of José Pascual and Steven Fernandez respectively. Guitarist / vocalist Florent Langevin has a growl that is both deep bass but shrill in all the right places, bonus in that you can actually understand him.

My favorite is "Psychiatrist" as they bore deep into your soul only to slow it down and it was a melodic almost early-Rush sound with harmonics and a Spanish-style flurry on the guitar, just as you catch your breath the full force of their fury hits you square in the balls again. These guys have style, feel, and talents that defy their newness to me.

They don't shy from some experimentation as shown by the winds of hell on "Bedouin at the North Pole" either which only kept me listening over and over again. "Hydra of Filth" simply slices open your skull and rearranges your brain stem.

All told, this is truly a must have album and hopefully they get themselves on some of the festivals this summer, they deserve to be heard and seen right alongside the Goatwhores of the world.