MORTIFER
"If
Tomorrow Comes" (Metalagen Records; 2000)
Reviewed by Brian Connelly
Hey people, are you ready for some metallic cheese as sweet on the ears
as rust is on your tongue? Insert devil sign right about here ... Aw, hell with it. Send out Black Sabbath clone number two
million and one and hope all the Camaro-driving, Edgar Allan Poe-loving metalhead masses
aren't bored yet. It's Mortifer.
Mortifer sounds like a band that rolled over and let Ozzy take over. They look like a bunch of
leather-jacket wearing 30-somethings who decided to don black, turn hip listening to Slayer and
take out their mid-life crises on 4/4 drum beats and a couple distorted guitars.
Lyrically, these guys sound like daft fan boys hooked on "Master of Puppets" and Tales from the Crypt comics ("I'm Your
Fear" is a chalkboard-scraping rip-off of "Sad But True" minus the subtlety or thunder).
However, promise prevails on tunes like "Fatality Insane," which showcase more riffs within its
breadth than the entire album combined, and "Slave of Fate," which heralds rhythmic change-ups
with more precision than a hairpin turn. Notes slide or even bend, a momentary relief from the static
two or three-chord standard of the rest of the album. Metallic melodies and bridges course in and
out, only subsiding long enough for some thankfully sparse vocal interludes. On tracks like
this, Mortifer almost becomes a low-key Dream Theater. They are a far cry from opera-prog, but they step
beyond their cookie-cutter stylings long enough to display some merit.
One question: Whatever happened to track four, "Crematory's Yard"?
For more information, please visit http://valiantmusic.musica.mustdie.ru.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright © 2000 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
reserved.
Revised: 18 Mar 2024 11:16:01 -0500.
