Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum isn’t exactly a name that rolls off the tongue, but I’ll tell you what: you never forget them once you’ve heard about them, and I had the distinct pleasure of getting to review the band’s sophomore release Šahrartu way back in 2021.  It really did stick with me, and when I saw that the Belarusians were finally going to be releasing their third album in the form of Meritoriousness of Equanimity I knew I had to get back on the review train for this one.  Plus, there is something about starting the year off with some meat-and-potatoes death metal that just makes me feel in my happy place.

The ethos of the band henceforth known as Eximperitus and their newest release is a simple but effective one, and I feel compelled to lay it down verbatim here: “In times when despair overflows human hearts…when the chasm of strife between civilizations widens…when loyalty to ideologies tears blood ties apart…when the world stands still, poised for the final leap of prolonged self-destruction…We can draw strength solely from internal sources, which are filled only by the multifaceted power of Death Metal…”  Amen, brothers.  Death metal they certainly deliver.  Eximperitus manage to weave together what I feel is pretty near the perfect blend of a little bit of technicality and a smidge of dissonance with a whole lot of your classic dumb-guy riffage and guttural bellows.  Of course, there is a tiny bit of that Nile-esque, Middle Eastern spice thrown in, but neither does it overpower the rest of the elements, nor does it feel like Eximperitus are aping any one particular style or artist.  They do something that is immediately recognizable as death metal, but with a flair that is all their own peppering the surface.

Meritoriousness picks up right where Šahrartu left off, and despite the five year gap, they have not only not missed a beat, they are more deft than ever.  Take, for example, standout track “Contemplation of the Plastic Fibers of Perfection at the Second Level of Reality” (ever the kings of the song title, as well): the enormous, chugging riff that opens is fairly standard fare as far as death metal goes, but the execution level is off the charts.  This is exactly the kind of death metal that fills you up with the inner strength to face the challenges of the day, as promised, and the amount of involuntary headbanging I instinctively did on every single listen to Meritoriousness made me look like a crazy person to my wife and dog.  If you dig deeper though, you’re going to notice a lot more emphasis on melody, and some pretty great ones at that.  The ending of the aforementioned track segues out on something that I would call beautiful, with the lead work sublimely countering the heaviness of the rhythm section.  There’s a lot of truly awesome lead work here.  I might be misremembering Šahrartu a bit, but I don’t remember this many solos, and this many that span the range of techniques like shredding, tapping, legato melodies and good-old step dad licks.  Five years has certainly seen Eximperitus grow in terms of their abilities, both as songwriters and musicians, and it makes Meritoriousness a joy to listen to.  My one real complaint with the album is that it feels like it’s pretty heavy on the interludes; depending on whether you count the abbreviated opening track and the back half of closer “Standing at the Skirt of the Ruins of Human Nature (…on the Other Side of Man and Time)” as interludes, there’s a lot of space in between the bones of this album.  Maybe one of them could have been cut to give the album more punch, but it’s not as if Meritoriousness doesn’t have teeth for days.  ‘Tis a small gripe at the end of the day.

Writing hasn’t been coming easily for me lately, but an album like Meritoriousness of Equanimity that lets me gush about my favorite kind of music on the planet, makes it approachable again.  It is way too early to be calling shots as far as longevity goes, but the fun that I’m having with this album means I will definitely still be spinning it well into 2026, and if you’re not, I don’t know what to tell you.  Fix that, now.  Now let’s see what else is out there to dig into…

— Ian

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Meritoriousness of Equanimity is available now on Willowtip Records.  For more information on Eximperitus, visit their Facebook page.