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MORTUOUS
Through Wilderness

Tankcrimes / Carbonized (2018)
Rating: 9/10

There’s been some fantastic death metal records released this year and I’m pleased to say that here’s another. This time we visit the stinking shores of Mortuous, a band hailing from San Jose, California but very much with their feet planted in the festering old school era.

Featuring Necrot drummer Chad Gailey and former Exhumed guitarist / vocalist Mike Beams, Mortuous bring their debut album; a slime-coated, putrid blitzkrieg of bone-crunching heaviness, razor-sharp soloing, bludgeoning bass courtesy of Clint Roach and further gore-drenched exclamations from guitarist / vocalist Colin Tarvin. This is real hammering death metal, the sort of fleshy wall that drips with a sombre and gruelling atmosphere.

The slower, mid-tempo squirms exude a foul air of decomposition; morose leads and glum riffs work in cohorts before the rush of seething energy brings an orgy of pummelling percussion and pounding, unrelenting rhythms. Vocally, it’s very much of a type; guttural, deep, chesty and bellowing, but to great effect as the combo provides stiff barriers of ooze and sepulchral fumes thanks to the mastery malevolence of Greg Wilkinson. No wonder then that Autopsy’s Chris Reifert and Danny Coralles have decided to guest within the miserable framework of this blood-spattered asylum, while Gruesome’s Matt Harvey is responsible for the lyrics on ‘The Dead Yet Dream’. Through Wilderness should succeed as a death metal record, and thankfully the ingredients do make for a rather thrilling experience.

‘Beyond Flesh’ opens up proceedings with a subtle intro before suddenly a surge of twisted riffery and perverse vocal bawls consume us. Mortuous make a huge impression from the start; the colossal feel of the guitars and that staggeringly brutal drum sound laps at an early 90s edginess. But like a lot of current and highly talented death metal acts, this combo has its own sprigs of fury and weight – more so as those unexpected fits of speed are injected into the thick intensity, which then gives way to those scathing, wild solos.

It’s very much classic death metal; traditional and yet providing freshness – if that makes sense – within such a framework of fusty odours. For me, such a stuffy, all consuming stench is what is important within even contemporary death metal designs. Some bands are all too eager to go for cutting edge gloss and concise dynamics, which in turn somehow gives an unwelcoming gleam of cleanliness to proceedings. Not with Mortuous, though; these guys produce waves of heavy sickness, grim throbs of nastiness and deep, throbbing heaps of gristle ‘n’ drudgery.

‘Bitterness’ stalks from the shadows with another maggot-ridden, grinding riff as the drums labour with clotted, orgasmic evil – the doom-laden trudging just bringing extra layers of rotten quality as the vocal coughs linger within the dense, rolling murkiness and heated haze. We know that a sudden jerk into speed and banshee solo isn’t far away, but as the stark, nodding drums brings in the gloomy plod of ‘Chrysalis Of Sorrow’, I just can’t help but let myself be dragged down into this miserable pit of a record. It’s here that the dragging vocals really come to the fore; the dragging vocals are drawn out exercises of mournful savagery as slowly the riffs, bass and drums come together to form a blubbery yet bursting barrier of mould and misery.

‘The Dead Yet Dream’ is as equally bereft in the cheerful department. No surprise then, as it features Reifert and Coralles. This time, a sodden, dank groove oozes with eerie intensity built upon that bony bass. Although throughout the record the vocal variations provide interesting slants, both are as equally grisly as one another. That is the format; Mortuous opts for thunderously heavyweight yet torturous death-doom blots, all bogged down by a vile old school varnish.

Reifert’s horrendous slurps come to the fore again on the grim ‘Anguish And Insanity’, this one hammering the skull with hyper blasts of murderous frenzy. In contrast, flute player Teresa Wallace brings her touch to ‘Screaming Headless’, but forget any sort of woodland jig. Instead, we’re rabidly savaged by another of the band’s faster outbursts as a sickening solo squirms into the pus and the doom-laden drudgery continues. Mortuous digest vintage My Dying Bride mannerisms, only to puke them back up in order to take form of their own deranged design.

Flecks of Immolation slip into the putrid maze at times, but influences aren’t exactly overly clear, all remnants or nods to the past fogged by those pungent shrouds of despondency as Mortuous provide further bludgeoning acts with the staggering title track and the pulverising ‘Subjugation Of Will’ – a hectic killing spree of a track whereby Chad Gailey’s arms must surely have flown off, leaving him to batter his skins with bloody stumps. But damn, this is catchy stuff too. In fact, it’s as contagious as any deadly disease that is able to worm its way into your ear canal before burrowing then munching on your sorry brain.

Through Wilderness is a clambering, draining and above all, devastating debut album to reduce your matter to slop and your torso to a pulpy costume. And that’s exactly what quality death metal should do.

Neil Arnold

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