You’re a Deceased fan, aren’t you? I figured as much; I could smell it. Odds are that you fancy a bit of ye olde Slayer too. Am I right? Let us assume for the sake of argument that I am in fact correct in my calculated assumptions and throw in the gamble that horror themes are alright by you as well. In that case, it would seem a recommendation that you check out Crucified Mortals’ Crucified Mortals wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

The horrifying Cleveland thrashers’ output over the last decade had consisted of a handful of demos, splits, and EPs. Crucified Mortals then is the band’s first full-length album, all 37 minutes of it. And as you’ve now gathered, it recalls the thick riffed and burly vocal approach of Deceased, right down to a gritty bark from guitarist/bassist Craig Horval (The Spawn of Satan, ex-Nunslaughter) that is similar to that of King Fowley. The difference is that Crucified Mortals’ approach is a little less riff-bloated and a little more straight forward, those characteristics being the ones that give Horror Thrashing Death its Slayer tendencies (somewhere between Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood). As a matter of fact, both “Fatal Scheme” and “Masked Murder” are more Slayer than Deceased. “Fatal Scheme” in particular is a real neck-snapper and inclusive of one hell of a bone bustin’ tempo shift, as well as some razor stormin’ soloing.

Ain’t a damn thing wrong with any of that and on the whole Crucified Mortals is a solid effort. A full-bodied production that fattens the bass lines, thickens the riffs, and puts some punch in the drum sound is a definite positive. So it seems that my initial assumptions about your predilection toward thrash metal of this sort were in fact right as rain, which I’m told is pretty darn right.

[Visit the band's website]

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