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There
are album covers that mark your life. Hell, when I was
about 12 I looked at the cover of iron Maiden’s Live
After Death and was sold for all eternity. I am still
in search for the next piece of metal artwork that will
tickle me just like Eddie. Mortifilia’s pick for cover
for their fourth full-length isn’t as effective but
damn,
if it isn’t memorable I don’t know what you can call it.
Maybe 'laughable' would be a good word. Whatever it
is that you feel upon seeing such masterpiece, one thing
is for sure, it will make you think.
‘What the
hell is going on there fellas? ‘, ‘cause I surely haven’t got a
clue. The guy on the cover is spewing fire. He is kneeled in
what looks like a field of oranges. His feet are oversize, like
those from the Yeti and
his head isn’t screwed right. Either that or he has an awesome
neck. The dude is elevating his arms as if worshiping Mortifilia’s first grade logo. I don’t know if he is an
worshipping position or he is just a weirdo. Whatever it is, don’t
let the drawing detract you from listening to Embrace. It is
much better than the cover let’s you know.
Mortifilia
is a melodic death metal band from the Czech Republic. What I
dislike about that subgenre is precisely what Mortifilia don’t
represent. Which is polished music presented through glossy
production. Excessive and soulless technicality giving way to
cheesy clean vocals and syrupy melodies. Generic In Flames
worship revealing a lack of balls and identity. Photoshop
artwork, photogenic musicians and crappy Nuclear Blast releases.
Therefore, Mortifilia is awesome. These dudes are just the
opposite of all that. Their music has just the right elements I
want in my melodic death metal.
Embrace
gets to a strong start with “Arrival of Messiah”, slaying
Swedish influenced riffs gallop in dexterous fashion. A steady
drum beat serves as a solid background to the admirable pipes of Franta Knetl. His bark is nothing out of the ordinary, but
clarity has its rewards when it is presented in such a brutal
fashion. The rest of the songs follow suit; cool metal riffs use
the NWOBHM as an influence but the guitars of Petr Turek and
Knetl are never over done. The solos are kept short and so are
the songs.
Perhaps
what’s best about Mortifilia’s songs is that even though they
are melodic they never indulge. Midtempo “…And Mother Said” is a
good example. The arrangements are subtle, the riff is simple.
The eloquence of the rhythm moves you slowly. When the riff
escalates and builds, it quickly pulls back. And the vocals as
far as growls go, are not all over the place, nor are t hey too
extreme to be understood. This is good concise songwriting.
Better yet, Mortifilia keep it up for ten songs.
Good choices
have been made for the production job too. The sound of Embrace
isn’t raw, nor too polished. Just like the songs, it has just
the right crunch. If there is anything negative about the music
of Mortifilia is the fact that their music is a bit
nondescript. Dudes are doing it right, but they don’t have a
differentiating factor besides the quality of their songs. Which
truth be told, for melodic death metal standards, may just be
enough.
Official Site
MySpace
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