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    The Lighthouse December 1994/Paramaecium
    Paramaecium — Exhumed of the Earth cover

    Paramaecium

    Exhumed of the Earth

    (1993)

    Reviewed by Erik Sellin

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    Label independentThe LighthouseDecember 1994
    death metaldoom metalprogressive metalsymphonic metal

    Fans of true death metal finally have another outfit to satisfy their cravings in Paramaecium. Former Mortification drummer Jayson Sherlock, who left partially due to musical differences, attacks the kit on the Australian trio's debut, picked up by R.E.X. for American distribution.

    The album opens with an operatic female soprano vocal that may make the listener question whether or not it's the right CD, but it doesn't take long for the guitar of Jason De Ron to kick in. The album is very powerful doom metal, and its deep grooves rather than its speed gives it its heaviness. The vocals of Andrew Tompkins are as low and deathy as the human voice can get. The lyric sheet is a requirement here, except for little other than the guttural "He is not here - He is risen! - just as He had said!" in "Entombed." "The Killing" is just as slow as it is heavy, and even includes a flute. The lyrics are a gory but biblical portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ.

    This is a concept album which tells of the Gospel of Christ, including Jesus' birth, trial, execution, and resurrection.

    This album is not for everyone, but these Australian brothers are very good at what they do, and they have produced a terrific death metal album that will be able to shine a light where it is very much needed.

    Other coverage for this album

    Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by sesspoolWell, the first thing I noticed, picking this up off of a friend and beginning to listen to it... was the EXTREMELY heavy guitars. I do believe this was the first album truly recorded in B tuning. This does emit some very heavy material here. Lyrically, this album's first 5 songs are the tale of Christ, from womb, to the world, to the grave, to rise again. This is done in a very intense musical…Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by NecRoSarXParamaecium, like any other band named after single-celled bacterium, would be classified as, what I'm told, doom metal. Death metal that's a little slower, almost plod-along, and much more experimental. Death metal to brood to, to coin a phrase. Now, Exhumed of the Earth took me a while to get into, mostly for the afore mentioned experimental edge to it. But, as with all things I had to take…Salt #24Reviewed by RoadrunnerOk, Jayson Sherlock decides to leave Mortification & ends up drumming for Paramaecium--wise move. Straight up, you dig death/doom metal? Buy this first. Absolutely! The opera vocals, strings & flute only enhance, so some of you may even appreciate this more here than on Believer's jazz influenced Dimensions. This is very doomy & moody yet not too drawn-out even though the shortest of the 7 tracks…Heaven's Metal #43Reviewed by Doug Van PeltHere's an excellent thrash art project by some Aussies with talent and creative songwriting skill. Taking a nod of inspiration from Believer's operatic "Dies Irae," this 7-song disc (clocking in over 66 minutes!) takes long and bold swipes at both frothing mosh material and high-brow's hottest opera singing. It's called "Exhumed of the Earth." Cut #1, "The Unnatural Conception in Two Parts: The…

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