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MORTUOUS
Upon Desolation

Extremely Rotten Productions / Carbonized (2022)
Rating: 8.5/10

The rich vein of death metal releases continues with the second full-length from San Jose, California-based outfit Mortuous who entertained us four years ago with the excellent Through Wilderness debut.

As expected, this Upon Desolation is another hefty release boasting various tempos but all delivered like belching expressions of fire, bolstered by the immense percussion of Chad Gailey whose drums act as the ideal base camp for the band to build their monolithic stirring form.

Mortuous aren’t necessarily devoted to old school death metal worship, but there’s not an overtly contemporary design either. Instead, the combo finds a niche to craft its structures of crushing, oozing riffage to create an often putrid atmosphere.

If you like dense, atmospheric death metal that’s peppered with blast beats and high energy intensity while also emitting a foul, rank odour, then Upon Desolation will appeal. It’s a record boasting numerous fleshy folds within, which you need to explore so as to understand the construction whereby the band adopts an almost 90s extremity while showcasing those slower, chunkier outbursts where the gloom really does seep through the cracks.

There’s always going to be that strong, smothering air of morbidity on a record like this, but it’s also great to hear flashes of experimentation too as exhibited on some of my favourite tracks such as ‘Ash And Dismay’, and at times the atmospherics created nod towards the sort of Gothic desolation once assembled by My Dying Bride.

The death / doom chimes are what really appeal to me and within these levels you’ll find the use of piano and violin which create further bleak nuances. Those wanting to hear the more brutal angles of Mortuous will be served up such delights as opener ‘Carve’ and the mangling intensity of ‘Metamorphosis’, which are platforms to exhibit the superb guitar work of Mike Beams and Colin Tarvin.

This record is a natural progression, the band embracing further designs to add to their already massive arsenal of savagery. Upon Desolation is the album I hoped it would be; cavernous yet arranged in a way as to entertain in a cinematic sort of way without sacrificing its punishing flair.

Neil Arnold

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