Thechopstickdrummer
Chris Gebauer is, in essence, a superspreader of black metal grime. Under various monikers, Gebauer has managed over ten musical projects, ranging from a duo with his wife, Anett Hauzu, to multiple depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM) bands. In these undertakings, he mainly sings, but in Exitium Sui, the full set of standard musical apparatus is all under his control. This project acts as an outlet for his efforts on blackened doom metal and dirge-like atmospheres, habits not entirely new to a musician like himself. Exitium Sui’s third full-length, Unravelling, is a curiosity of funeral doom-adjacent textures, but hopefully there’s enough life for me to cling to. Unlike the moods in the majority of Gebauer’s bands, I like living.
On second thought, I don’t want to live anymore. I want to rid myself of my consciousness and submerge my body in the deepest layer of the earth, where it burns continuously and infinitely. That’s how I feel while Unravelling plays out. This is a record to digest with noise-cancelling headphones of the utmost quality, but not at a high volume; I started at 95%, moved to 85, and the result is early-onset tinnitus. Funeral doom metal is one of, if not the, heaviest genre of metal, and Gebauer (E.S., in this case) basks in it. He utilizes dissonance and pure, unfiltered dread to create the most dire, drawn-out compositions you’ll hear all year. Plodding drums are your only guide through Exitium Sui’s forty-nine-minute hell, and during the travels, you’ll encounter the most hideous of screeches and gutturals, and waves of feedback.
I was acting melodramatic, yes, but it’s not entirely an exaggeration. The only breaks in the record’s sluggish nature are mere classical additions, like the mournful piano interlude in the opening piece, or the acoustic “Sickness Flooding Nihil.” Exitium Sui’s attack benefits from these breaks, as if he were to spend the entire runtime focusing on cinematic anger that is 99% of Unravelling, it’d come off as one-note. Heavy is a basic term, but the atmospheres he creates are nothing short of it, especially when featured artist Drew Griffiths helps bring the vocals to the forefront in pieces like “Septkinesis.” There, the riffing also starts being audible: it’s not often to hear each separate riff on the album.
The downside of this funeral is that the pacing is prolonged and stretched across seven songs when it’d be much more efficient to condense them into three or four longer pieces. Genres like this thrive on a few long bursts of gloom, and this could’ve been easily accomplished on Unravelling. Songs reach upwards of ten minutes; the average is around six. I saw the melodramatics wearing off mostly during a song’s end, where, instead of a halt, a connection to the next piece could be formed. The openings and endings of the songs don’t help the atmosphere’s progression. Would you rather go to eight funerals or a handful of grandiose funerals? I choose the latter, but if you prefer the former, this LP is for you.
I still appreciate Chris Gebauer’s work here, especially for the amount of noise one man can create. Despite a seemingly perfunctory attitude as tracks fade to dust, I have no worries that Exitium Sui’s next effort will only focus on the elements he does best: tormented singing, atmospheric black metal shredding, and a knack for the macabre.
Label: Meuse Music Records
Release date: September 4th, 2026
Website:https://exitiumsui.bandcamp.com/album/unravelling
Country: Australia
Score: 4.0/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 