ALBUM REVIEW: Mortiferum – Preserved In Torment

Dwelling in the Death-Doom underground, the superb MORTIFERUM return with their 2nd full length album, out now via Profound Lore Records.

Spewing from the abyss comes a cascade of putrid riffs and crawling drums which instantly launch into a lurking and deformed atmosphere alongside fetid snarling vocals. Credit where it is due to Mortiferum, they do not waste time on introducing anything other than the key elements of the band with its rapturous and monolithic Death Metal concoctions of superb quality. Amidst the punishing riffs there are charnel leads which add that haunting touch to the music while the drummer makes consistent and excellent use of the cymbals to add percussive melody to the rich riffing and ghastly vocals. In instances such as this, it is abundantly obvious from early on that Mortiferum have had a clear vision all along and this will be another piece of the puzzle which has been decided long ago. Everything clicks instantly with blistering solos ebbing away into eldritch doom before more gargantuan slabs of morbidity are dropped upon us. Most importantly with this type of cavernous sound, things feel deliberate instead of reverberating a placid idea until it becomes too tepid to tolerate, Mortiferum leave only the most riveting and yet profoundly ambient blends of Death and Doom Metal in their music which speaks for itself.

Churning more rancidity into their sound, tracks like “Incubus Of Bloodstained Visions” showcase the more malignant offerings that Mortiferum are capable of while still keeping those angular progressions and septic atmospherics firmly in their sights. The production has a layer of tarry filth which when penetrated is beautifully mixed to display the resplendence of ichorous instruments and sepulchral vocals fittingly and with just the right amount of clarity. As usual, their own Chase handled the macabre cover art which allows things to be kept within the band aesthetically as well as sonically and has paid off time and time again when the visuals perfectly represent the sound of the record it holds. This time it seems we have traversed deeper into the stringy realm of spectral entities that perhaps the entrance was shown on the debut. In fact the two albums along with the split with Hyperdontia look like a sequence of events where the entrance was shown on album 1, the grander cavern on this album and perhaps some passage of varying pathways on the split. The reason I have gone on this massive artistic tangent is because the music transports you into this world of viscera and ghoulish corpses which altogether conjures a delightfully disgusting feast for the senses.

Stomping further into the dirt, the album breaks away into a more pulverising blend of Doom and Death Metal which is slow but malicious as ever with those creeping riffs and booming tom fills to open a sparse ambience through which the maniacal vocals can howl. With each progression comes freshly exhumed ideas while never losing purpose of feeling like the band has meandered into dullness, rather taking these moments of respite before a section of blasting carnage to lull us into a false sense of security before the cavernous walls collapse around us. Utilising a stunning blend of sombreness, scathing aggression and a tense anxiety, this is a surprisingly evocative record in a mature emotional sense as well as the more typically feral moods of Death Metal. That said, all of the trademark odiousness and repugnance is here aplenty, so fear not, this is still gut-splitting music for the underground fiends who like it nasty. But there is so much more to this record than meets the eye, ear, brain or whatever else they infect on your person. For instance the bellowing cacophony that is “Exhumed From Mortal Spheres” which combines bestial ferocity and swampy grooves with solos that would be more fitting on a Judas Priest record and it all just works triumphantly. Descend into subterranean murk and revel in its splendour.

Mortiferum are certainly one of the standout Death-Doom bands of the present day who understand when to be minimalist, when to inject carnal adrenaline into their music and when the festering atmosphere needs to warp into something unspeakably devastating. Often simplistic, never boring and overall a magnificent example of rotting, funereal Death Metal.