Though not quite as crushing as the recent full length from Comatose label mates Necrotic Disgorgement, the new one from Mortal Decay is yet another fine underground 2013 brutal death metal release. 

This is only the 4^th full length from these New Jersey natives, though they’ve been honing their craft for over 20 years.  I remembered the name Mortal Decay from their last full length, 2005s Cadaver Art, and while it was decent, it never really grabbed me.  On this new one, they brought in vocalist Danny Nelson (Malignancy), and his death growl fits the music perfectly.  He varies his pitch throughout, with the lyrics in songs such as “Chloroform Induced Trauma” quite intelligible at times.  But don’t worry, he keeps the tried and true unintelligible growl through most of the album.

Where this one really stood out was the songwriting.  Instead of just chugging and growling their way along at the fastest speeds possible, the tempo changes and the very solid guitar playing are what set this apart from the thousands of carbon copy brutal death bands.  You get some well-placed solos in songs such as “Deviant”, “Mourning Euphoria”, and smashing closer “Altruistic Masochism”.  They feature a dual guitar attack, which definitely helps to give open up the options when writing these tracks and shows that you can keep it brutal while also adding some melody and variance to your riff choices.

To keep the slam fans happy (myself included), you get a great one at the 3 minute mark of the opening track, and they’re peppered throughout the album in ways that add to the songs, instead of making up for lack of ideas; there’s plenty here to get the head bobbing.  Wrap this all up in a solid production that adds to, instead of takes away from, the music (I’m looking at you Exhumer), and you have a nice LP that should please fans of all things brutal.  I just hope we don’t have to wait another 8 years for the next output. 

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments