Bestial

After their self-titled debut released under Singapore's Vrykoblast Records in 2009, this year sees Blood Mortized releasing a four-track EP in the form of Bestial under Mexico's Chaos Records. Seeing the country of origin of the band (Sweden) already gave me a rough idea of what to expect of the EP, and having already seen a huge number of Swedish death metal acts releasing new material this year, I wasn't really expecting much from Blood Mortized's latest, though boasting experienced ex-members of other bands certainly puts some credibility even before listening to the EP.

It is surprising then, as opening track Bestial hits the listener in the face, though the trademark razor-sharp guitar tone and chugga-chug riffs of Swedish death metal acts is instantaneously recognisable. Blood Mortized's Bestial puts in a different edge though, with the intensity and the heaviness that is present in the music. The drumming of Anders (who has bands like Amon Amarth in his portfolio, among many other bands), while not particularly fast or furious, is hard-hitting, and there is an almost d-beat feel in his drumming style, adding a slightly punk-edge to the band's music. Even the guitars aren't particularly fanciful, with the leads of Anders being more of an atmospheric instrument, helping to create a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty in the music.

The band also makes use of various sound samples, such as those of a person being tortured at the background on the title track, and this helps to keep things a little bit insane here. The band also displays varied styles of performance on the four tracks, with each track focussing on different things, despite fundamentally being Swedish death metal, and sees the band attempting to stand out from their counterparts, though to mixed results. For example, Of Dust & Doom is a doom-paced track, and as the title suggests, places a feeling of doom in the listener with the slow pace and the almost asphyxiating atmosphere. Drummer Anders backs this up with the martial-styled drumming on his snare, and the spoken and multi-layered vocals of Mattias pushes the limits of the listener's sanity.

That said though, overall this album is a decent Swedish-styled death metal album, and though the attempt to include various different elements in the album is certainly a good idea, having too many slow moments with tracks like Of Dust & Doom and Rekviem on such a short EP definitely breaks the momentum and disrupts the enjoyment of the EP, making this a weaker effort than it should really be.

(http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/)

Blood Mortized is another Swedish band pursuing the dream of its forebears from the 90s, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the Bestial EP feels like being dropped off in a time machine somewhere betwixt Clandestine and Wolverine Path. However, the skill of the band's roster, several of whom have served time in acts like Amon Amarth and Crypt of Kerberos, certainly shines forth, and the material is well-produced and mildly entertaining, even if it fails to stick to the memory like others in this peer group (for example, the full-length debuts by Miasmal, Feral and Morbus Chron).

Of course, you can largely gather what this sounds like from the first sentence of the review. But to give them some credit, there are mild deviations into other old school terrains, so whilst "Bestial" itself opens the album at a rocking canter with vocals eerily reminiscent of L-G Petrov, the second track "Of Dust & Doom" is a slog of doom which reminds me of Bolt Thrower's airy, windswept guitar tone from Realm of Chaos, set to a march and a mix of narrative vocals and grunts. "Shadows of the Quarter Sun" also gives this impression at first, but then picks back up into the Swedish turf. The closer, "Rekviem" is a slower, grooving piece, but cast in much the same riffing mold with some nice glazes of lead deep into the 6+ minute structure.

From the perspective of pure production, Bestial sounds great, and should absolutely thrill fans of that old Sunlight sound on tone alone. Unfortunately, the band's riffs just never seemed to scream at me. Albums like Clandestine or Indecent & Obscene weren't just getting by on the bludgeoning volume of their guitars, but the actual songwriting, and I just don't feel as if Blood Mortized have the capability or presence to amount to anything more than the next guys on the same block. At least not with this material. Bestial is fine for listening through once or twice, and some headbanging might even ensue, yet there's nothing surprising or unique about it, and it's been done so, so many times before, and better. Even in recent memory I can count off a dozen albums that destroy this at it's own game, too many other places to turn for this fix.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I must honestly admit that I haven't bought any cassettes since probably 2005 or so and actually last year I even sold my entire tape collection, because 1. I needed money and 2. my cassette desk was broken. I've fixed it recently, but didn't think I'll use it any time soon, as there were no tapes left in my house. Meanwhile I've found the cassette EP of Swedish Blood Mortized titled "Bestial" and thought "hell, I must buy it!". Why? Well, first of all, it's a limit of 100 copies, so it has great collecting value. The other reason is that I've listened to one song on myspace and just loved it. And finally, it cost me about 3 euros only, which is a bargain, so what the hell is the problem?? I thought that if I don't buy this tape, then I'll never have a chance to listen to it, because it's so limited. And even though I would rather prefer to have "Bestial" as vinyl 7"EP, I'm still very happy to have the tape, as the music shreds.

I don't know if the self titled debut album of Blood Mortized is any good. I didn't have a chance to listen to it, but now I know that if I ever see it available in distros, I'll go for it, because what Blood Mortized offers on their tape EP is just shredding Swedish death cult. "Bestial" offers three tracks of what I love most about the old death metal - which is its Swedish reincarnation. The music is very typical and let's be honest, it's not much original. But the thing is, Blood Mortized are good at what they do. Their riffs tear to pieces, are brutal and have passion, some of them are slightly more melodic like in the third song, "Rekviem", which actually reminds me Hypocrisy a little. Mid paced in most of the time, it has groove and is kind of the music, which possesses and force to bang the skull in maniacal rhythm. "Shadow of the Quarter Sun" is faster, but again the riffing is rather simple and uncomplicated, which is not a problem and actually it only makes the listening more pleasant. There's horrible smell of putrid floating around this EP and I love it. I love the front cover, stylised on the old horror movie poster and the inlay card, with band's photo and lyrics. I cannot expect more. This is perfect and I honestly don't regret the money I spent on this cassette.

So, in the end I can only recommend you getting this EP, as honestly this is one of the best Swedish death metal exhumations of the year. And with the guys from bands like Crypt of Kerberos it couldn't really disappoint. Now I'm waiting for Blood Mortized's second album and in the meanwhile, I'll try to get their debut CD also. I do hope the music is equally or even more amazing!