Your everyday metalhead likes to think of him/herself as an iconoclastic rapscallion thumbing their nose at the lemming-like banality of the entertainment mainstream. Truthfully, however, far too many headbangers are conservatively locked into a tunnel vision theoretically on par with the squares who prejudicially equate extreme music with the sounds of rape (this hysterical presupposition was actually proposed to me very recently by a new acquaintance of mine on whom the verdict is still obviously very much out on).
As regularly as encountering someone who thinks distortion, screaming and blast beats might as well mean your mother’s being murdered and your dog’s being fucked, anyone's who has ever queued up for a gig is all too familiar with some dingus loudly pontificating about how no good metal exists post-1991, how being a fan of certain subgenres is on par with sex acts that remain illegal in some southern states and African nations, how so-and-so’s first album is the only piece of their discography worthy listening to and so on and so forth. Yessiree, the arbitrary complaints, restrictions, regulations, and elitism can reach skyward at a rocket pace!
Leeching energy from the cumulative experience of the band's second record is the monochromatic production style which has the potential to exhaust exhausted ears. Luckily, Mortal’s relatively quick entry and exit – seven songs total 35 minutes – makes the oppressive thick bass and soupy, thickset rhythm guitars more tolerable. Layered guitars and leads come in like fire and stand out like frosted pink buckshot with quizzical tones, wrenching note abuse, furious melodic schism, the occasional slip up into major keys, and arpeggios that’ll probably have musical theory sticklers throwing up into their own mouths.
Each of the tracks here has been borne from a combination of comprehensive touring, experience within and beyond the Necrot world (drummer Chad Gailey also plays in Mortuous, Vastum and Scolex, bassist/vocalist Luca Indrio is also a member of Acephalix and guitarist Sonny Reinhardt not only plays in a number of other bands but is also the sound guy at Oakland’s Metro) and being leery of the sophomore slump. This is the starting point for overall structural simplicity, hair-trigger immediacy, and pillage-conquer-and-move on impact of Mortal.
