Nihilistic Contentment

The Danish death metal scene isn't nearly as well known beyond the country's borders as that of their Scandinavian brethren, which is one of the main reasons why Exmortem have been releasing albums consistently for over a decade without penetrating worldwide consciousness beyond a small cult following. Frankly, the other is that they're not really that interesting. From the curiously blasé album title onward, Nihilistic Contentment is strictly death metal-by-numbers; technically, these ten tracks are faultless in terms of speed, precision, and flash, but there's very little happening here in terms of listener engagement. Exmortem are the death metal equivalent of all of those samey third-string punk bands who have memorized every second of the Ramones' first four albums, but lack the vision to add anything new to their influences; listening to Nihilistic Contentment will just make the average death metal fan want to go put on his old Morbid Angel records.