Paramaecium, 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 time to get used to, this CD is now one of my particular favorites. Take, for example, the opening cut "The Unnatural Conception". Clocking in at seventeen minutes, and incorporating such exotic musical incorporation as violins, an operatic female singer and keyboards, to say nothing of the gut-wrenching down-tuned guitar riff that churns on for five minutes before shifting, the precise-as-a-Swiss-watch drumming of none other than Jayson Sherlock and the growl vocals. Some listeners with shorter attention spans may be tempted to start skipping around, but believe me, the whole song is very, very satisfying. It's such a darkly beautiful amalgam of sounds, it shouldn't be brushed off so soon.
The overall theme of Exhumed of the Earth seems to pretty much deal with the birth of Christ, His death, the persecution of His followers, and the Second Coming. You know, standard death/doom metal topics. Aside from "The Unnatural Conception", I also gravitate toward "Injudicial", "Untombed", "The Voyage Of The Severed" and "The Killing" as far as favored tracks go. This is another CD I listen to in the dark a lot. It's worth checking out.
8/10
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…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…The Lighthouse December 1994Reviewed by Erik SellinFans 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…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…Similar sounding releases
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