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MAUSOLEUM
Defiling The Decayed

Moribund (2024)
Rating: 7/10

If ever there was a band that’s happy to give off the same stingy waft of morbidity time and time again it’s Mausoleum. Never interested in moving beyond the realms of sepulchral stodge, the Johnstown, Pennsylvania-based mouldy foursome continues in that macabre vein which laced all previous outings.

Being the epitome of solid, Mausoleum has, surprisingly, only released three full-length albums, including this one, since forming in 2001. It’s a crazy statistic for such a band, but it hasn’t affected their ability to rob graves of corpses and munch down on the bones. Defiling The Decayed takes me back to scorching summer days in the early 90s when Floridian death metal was on heavy rotation on the stereo.

One cannot help but envisage hordes of crusty zombies rising from their stinking holes as lumbering passages of gloom entwine with faster segments on ‘Nine Eternities In Doom’, but in contrast ‘Curse Of The Tomb’ is more frenzied in its climax. Everything contained is ghoulishly groovy and daubed in crypt grime as ‘Catacombs Of Eternal Dead’ sets us up for some old school groaning.

Even though littered with meandering, wailing solos, Defiling The Decayed maintains that murky, despondent air; it’s nothing new from the guys but one imagines that Mausoleum are more than comfortable writhing around in familiar slurry. This album is the musical equivalent to revisiting the house of a creepy uncle whose musty book collection somehow provides a nostalgic and cosy atmosphere.

Mausoleum may seem to be flogging a dead horse with their miserable brand of death metal, but if it isn’t broke why try to fix it?

Neil Arnold

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