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.Music that beats the horse with vocals that get in the final blow.-
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| Mortualia: Mortualia |
Black Metal
Moribund Records (2011), Northern Sky
January 15th, 2007 / June 28th, 2011
Initial Pressing:
- The Blue Silence - 17:07
- In Bleak Loneliness - 14:09
- Cold and Grey - 6:42
- Devoid of Warmth - 15:50
- Forgotten Soul - 18:22
2011 Reissue:
- Death Serenity (2011) - 7:05
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| Review Information |
Release length: 1:19:14
Review posted on July 2nd, 2011
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| | Initial Pressing: 4.5/10 |
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| 2011 Reissue: 5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Mortualia (2007) Blood of the Hermit (2010) Nebelstern des Nichts (2010)
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| Split(s): |
Hymnes Funeraires des Rois (2008) Inmitten Des Waldes/Mortualia (2009)
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| Review |
Mortualia is a Black Metal act that originates from Finland with an unknown time of birth. What is known is that this is another one man Black Metal project, featuring Shatraug handling all duties and served in plenty of bands, active and not, leaving too many to name aside the more prominant acts Horna and Behexen. This one man act's debut full-length, Mortualia was issued back in 2007, and since then two more full-lengths followed in 2010, along with two splits in between. Considering some of the high scores underground media outlets have given this effort, it's hard not to walk in expecting a fantastic album. But, does it live up to the hype?
Well...First of all, Mortualia clocks in at a hefty seventy minutes plus scattered amongst five tracks. Of course, many of them push way past the double digit mark, with "Cold and Grey being the shortest at six minutes forty two seconds, followed by "Forgotten Soul" at eighteen minutes twenty two seconds. While this definitely pushes the mark of a bit pretentious, at the same time given the more artistic side of Black Metal, it's becoming more common for bands to attempt this, and in many ways those bands are doing an excellent job and pioneering this sort of lengthy musical expression that many felt Progressive Metal was the best style for. The overall production quality is about what you would expect from an underground act of this style anymore. The quality is lower, though still a bit a clear, as if a product from the early nineties with a slight modern digital touch to it. While this often works for the atmosphere of these types of releases, it doesn't really do much except give more of a white noise analog vibe to the music, as if this were an album lost from the aforementioned time period, but bluntly establishing it's an underground release, and intended be kept as such.
"The Blue Silence" kicks in slowly and eventually starts to set up the mood to the song, the album, and the band's intention. However it's simply not set up quick enough, and chances are as soon as the vocals kick in, someone with low patience may very well turn it off. The vocals here are absolutely horrendous, trying to match a general Black Metal aggression, but come off as high nasally wails that are comparable to the nasally, high pitched vocals on Macabre but less intimidating, or even like a tone deaf child trying to emulate King Diamond, both of which come off quite hysterical at first, being more cartoonish and childish in their approach to convey a blood curdling scream that sounds as if from a person pleading for their life in a wailing manner, yet doesn't care if he or she lives or dies. Basically, it's not something one might expect on any form of a Black Metal album. Luckily, the vocals on this recording are not that dominant, and often just come in at random times and just stop. It's like this on many other tracks here, and while this more falsetto approach sounds decent in the background of "In Bleak Loneliness", it still comes off really irritating after a short while on "The Blue Silence", and sure enough you get another fifty plus minutes of that approach. Luckily not all songs use vocals that much, but the ones that do, such as "Devoid of Warmth", end up with decent melancholic slow-paced music accompanied by screams that become an endurance test and grate on your nerves like the screaming from the baby right next to your ear from the booth next to you at your favorite restaurant on your only night off for the week (yes, this is the best way to summarize it).
While the vocals may be enough to make you want to take your copy of this release and shatter it within ten minutes of hearing, perhaps even less pending your tolerance for that sort of scream, the music varies greatly through the album as far as how enjoyable it is. Right away it becomes clear that Mortualia is trying to convey a very melancholic atmosphere through the music, which is succeeds at quite well through it's slower approach to the style. At the same time, the material seems to shift between having a Drone influence, which is established in "The Blue Silence", to a more Psychadelic approach, which ius introduced heavily on "In Bleak Lonelines". While the Psychadelic aspect can actually put the listener in a bit of a trance with the more ritualistic moments these songs possess, the actual Droning tracks on here can be really lackluster and just not really have a lot going for them. "The Blue Silence", for instance, simply does not capture the listener's attention, and eventually just starts to become very repetitive and just seems to take forever to end. The song doesn't seem to have much life to it, even after getting past the vocals.
Unfortuantely, that sensation doesn't really go away. One of the biggest issues of the album is that the songs seem to take forever and don't offer much variety throughout. While "In Bleak Loneliness" really stands out from it's richer, more trance-inducing music that feels a little faster and far more melancholic, the song still suffers. About half way through, the song starts to become repetitive and boring due to the same music with little change, as if a short MP3 file on loop. By eight or nine minutes in, you'll more then likely be waiting for the end to arrive more then hoping it won't really end anytime soon. "The Blue Silence" is worse due to it's less atmospheric and entertaining music from the start. Had many of these shorter songs been cut down to seven, even eight minutes, then there's a good chance there wouldn't be any real issues from the lack of variation to the music and simpler Black Metal performances. "Cold and Grey" really proves that argument too as the song is just under seven minutes, and while the last minute feels a bit stretched, the melancholic sound of the track plays out nicely and grabs the listener, and as it's grip begins to loosens, the song calls it a day and reaches it's climax without trying to push itself to the extremes of "In Bleak Loneliness" or "Forgotten Soul" as far as track length is concerned.
| 2011 Reissue: |
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Issued through Moribund Records, Mortualia's 2011 Reissue isn't all that much different fromt he original. If you haven't had the opportunity to hear this underground release when it originally came out through Northern Sky, then the label si giving you another shot, and includes a bonus track as an extra incentive to drive existing fans towards purchasing this edition. "Death Serenity (2011 Edit)" is a a re-recording of the Hymnes Funιraires des Rois track of the same name. Surprisingly enough, the production on this was a little more raw in comparison, and nothing on it is as clear at the previous five tracks. the song itself hits the seven minute mark, and it doesn't start to get old in any sense, coming off a very well composed track by Mortualia. The vocals are even far more impressive, still being that screaming style illustrated on Mortualia but nowhere near as nasal or whiny, though sometimes still a little obnoxious from the lower production quality.
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While the vocals are comical at first, then become absolutely untolerable at times the music itself is enjoyable despite that it often goes too long. The simpler nature of the music works to enhance the melancholic vibe of the album, and for that many of the songs feel enhanced by it. Had this been a strictly instrumental album with songs cut in half, Mortualia would be a fanrastic example of atmospheric droning and Psychadelic inspired Black metal from the underground. While many sources on the net say that this album is supposed to represent "the end", as in the departure from life, and whether that's true or not, the album does work well in giving off that sort of sensation to the release, but such a conceptual interpretation of the album doesn't quite excuse it for some of it's teeth-gritting issues that hinder some of the more well composed material. Mortualia really isn't one of the most amazing Black Metal releases to date, especially from the underground, but there are plenty out there who say this album is great. Sadly, I won't revisit this any time soon, and even other fans of this slower, melancholic approach to Black Metal will find much of it daunting despite it's traits. If you wish to venture through this release, the reissue does include a bonus track, and will probably cost less then an original pressing of this effort.
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