Viogression - Expound and Exhort (1991)

From the late 80's to the mid 90's a lot of exceptional and greatly overlooked bands arose out of Wisconsin, namely; Phantasm, Dr. Shrinker, Dusk, Accursed, Cyanosis, Morbid Saint, Realm, Morta Skuld, Acrophet and Viogression from Milwaukee. Formed in '88 as Apocalypse but quickly changed to Viogression in '89, in '90 both the 'Perception Blur' and 'Execution' demo tapes were released and then with a slightly re-vamped line-up the debut album, 'Expound and Exhort' came in '91.

Most listeners will quickly make an Obituary comparison after hearing this album and while the influence is there I think that connection is mainly made due to vocalist Brian DeNeffe doing one hell of grand John Tardy impression. In all actuality the two sound quite different musically. Viogression's style varied between mid-tempo death metal to slow and gloomy doom/death, but there are several moments of pure energy and blast beats to be found as well. The production is thick and quite heavy, suffocating in the best way imaginable, though the overall volume is a bit low.

Throughout the album a lot of more eccentric characteristics can be found too; 'Maggot Synod' has an off break of guitar effects, voice and moans of pain in the middle of the song, while 'Puritan Flame' is a short acoustic piece with samples running over it. 'Fragmented Carcass' & 'Limb From Limb' also have both a sample and keyboard introductions, while 'Choir of Loudun' & 'Choir of Loudun - The Chanting' are short instrumental pieces with maniacal chanting mixed in.

Since the overall flow of the music is ever changing, 'Exbound and Exhort' can be a tricky record to get into initially, but after a few spins it really starts to set in, especially the faster moments are totally killer and headbangable. Both guitarists Leon Schendel and Bryan Jaeger create some pummeling and hard hitting riffs as well as some superb solos, while drummer Barry Jaeger (Bryan's twin brother) pounds the hell out of the drums and Ed Lockerman's bass work adds to the heaviness.

After the release of this album Viogression briefly toured with Death and Pestilence around the USA, but they're American label Kraze folded and the band had to withdraw after a few dates. The band would go on to release, 'Passage' in '92, but further insult was added by the simple fact that the album was released unmixed by Tombstone Records who happened to be a complete rip-off label that didn't promote either album at all. Viogression would soon disband, but the Passage line-up would start Medusa Oblongada in '94 and the band would go on to release just one self titled EP in '95.

I've known Bryan for years since he nowadays works as a tattoo artist (and has done several tattoos on me) and it was always interesting hearing stories about the old days and funny stuff about Death's Chuck Schuldiner and Pestilence's Patrick Mameli. The last time I spoke to him about Viogression I was told the band is back together these days with a different line-up, with an EP being written as well as a possible re-release of this album. In the meantime though check out this old and unfortunately forgotten death metal release.