(This is a guest review of a new EP by the veteran Mexican band Mortuary (released last month by HPGD Productions) written by Jason Kiss, also known as Lonegoat from Goatcraft and Lord Abyss from Amorphophallus Titanum.)
As I have grown older, my patience for speed metal has waned substantially. Nevertheless, I continue to hold an affinity for proto-death metal expressions in which speed metal is driven beyond the confines of its own limited logic and, through excess, transforms into something altogether more menacing and expansive.
One might argue that Morbid Angel on Abominations of Desolation, alongside Necrovore’s Divus de Mortuus and Possessed’s Seven Churches, were among the first to exemplify this rupture; they produced the conditions for death metal to emerge as its own original coterie unshackled to its speed metal roots. What compels me not is speed metal in itself, but rather this fractured threshold where the spirit of extremity in metal is nourished and an Aristotelian potentiality is actualized; where speed metal dies so that something more sinister can take its place.
Akin to Sadistic Intent in their perpetual fixation on an idealized past when death metal still possessed a kind of feral innocence before it became diluted by an overabundance of participants,[1] Mexico’s Mortuary harnesses the nascent era of death metal for inspiration to summon their representation of proto-death metal through their new EP Great Black Earth.
The underlying logic of speed metal, with its recurring refrains and cyclical impetus, serves as the edifice for the songs’ construction, yet many of the riffs themselves would not feel out of place on some early classic death metal records. Like those albums, there is an inherent catchiness to the riffs as they surge forward with unbroken momentum, and it becomes almost irresistible not to bob one’s own damn head. Moreover, another element which positions Great Black Earth firmly in the proto-death metal camp is obviously the vocals, which have abandoned all speed metal heritage other than in their cadences: the textures of the vocalizations are undeniably death metal.
This total devotion to proto-death metal means that Mortuary wear the 1980s on their sleeves, but fortunately Great Black Earth avoids collapsing into mere imitation like so many “Old School Death Metal” bands do today. It does not pretend to be something it is not and emerges as an authentic article of proto-death metal. Certain passages inevitably recall other bands, yet no single influence dominates its expression. More significantly, the EP draws on proto-death metal as guiding spirit.
Mortuary do not attempt anything new, nor do they break any established rules. Rather, they entrench themselves in the spirit of an earlier era when death metal was still in the process of defining its identity, and that commitment to a “spirit” is more commendable than most contemporary extreme metal releases, which often seem oriented toward generating social capital rather than producing any enduring artistic expression. There are no participation trophies to be found here with Mortuary.
As such, I highly recommend giving their Great Black Earth EP a spin for a lingering glimpse into the dawn of death metal. Above all, beneath its historical reverence, the music simply delivers great proto-death metal tunes! That alone is reason enough to give it your attention!
[1] Moynihan, Lords of Chaos, p. 31. “As greedy record labels tried to cash in on the Death Metal trend by signing up untalented bands and releasing an endless stream of mediocre and remarkably unoriginal albums, the market was quickly swamped in a morass of interchangeable sludge.”
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