Riff Police! Pull Over! #95: Exumer Vs Slayer!

1983 saw Metal Blade Records release the debut studio album from a fledgling Slayer going by the name of “Show No Mercy“. A completely self financed release which has often been criticized for it’s demo quality production value, it was recorded at Track Record Studios, Los Angeles, California and appeared just a month later. Extensive touring followed and the album that started it all also helped make Metal Blade Records a name on the Thrash scene. Given the quantity of quality in the bands rich 37 years at the forefront of Metal, a trio of cuts in  “The Antichrist“, “Die by the Sword“, and “Black Magic” still appeared regularly in the bands live sets before they called it a night. Just three years after “Show No Mercy” appeared on the horizon, Wiesbaden Germany Thrash Metal quintet Exhumer delivered their debut full length album “Possessed by Fire” via Disaster Records. Produced by Harris Johns (Voivod, Kreator) and largely written by vocalist, bassist Mem V. Stein it was Recorded at Musiclab Studious, Berlin, Germany. Comparisons to Slayer were without doubt inevitable with the bands occupying the same territory around the same time but if you’ve heard “Black Magic” then you’ve heard “Fallen Saint” as Ray Mensh and Kerry King are playing parts that are a cigarette paper part in places. But that’s not all. After Mem V. Stein exited stage left from Exhumer in 1986, they were joined by Paul Arakaki and the Slayer influence increased with his vocal style being very similar to Tom Araya…