Curtain up for Mortuary Drape.
Just one year after the release of their last EP, the Italian band made up of Wildness Perversion (vocals/drums), S.C. (bass, ex-Controsigillo, ex-Drakkar), S.R. (guitar), DC (guitar/vocals) and M.T. (drums, Dark Redeemer, Mortado, ex-Aleph) announce the release of Black Mirror, their sixth album, via Peaceville Records.
The ominous Restless Death is the first to reach us, letting a gloomy piano accompany frightening murmurs before an Old School rhythm suddenly appears to give violence a voice. The band also knows how to create majestic sounds, like the slower and more ethereal break that carries us through to The Secret Lost and its energetic approach, which is perfectly combined with the impressive keyboards. Influences borrowed from Heavy, Death and Black Metal are melted together to create a storm of catchy sounds before Ritual Unction takes over, imposing its own roots while remaining consistent with the band’s solid steady approach. The bass harmonics return on Drowned in Silence, a track guided by relatively insistent raucous vocal parts, while the instrumental retains all its energy before giving way to the gentleness of Into the Oblivion, a fairly short composition that quickly returns to a fast rhythm and jerky riffs. Rattle Breath gets off to a rather slow start with a mixture of heaviness and oppression, but the band naturally injects its unhealthy touch along with the dark murmurs, then the musicians place melodious soaring tones on a lively basis with Nocturnal Coven. Bass plays a very important role in this track’s harmonics, giving them an impressive fluidity while Mistress of Sorcerer gives guitars the main role, adopting fervent and unifying Thrash patterns. The band doesn’t slow down until the end, offering a fairly calm introduction on The Unburied, but musicians once again end up speeding up while the morbid ranting regularly haunts us before letting the anguish gradually re-emerge on Fading Flowers Spell and its heady melodies, found both in the introduction and during what eventually turns into a frantic charge. Black Mirror allows us a moment of quietness before injecting darkness and dissonant sounds into its gentle melody, and then the sound slowly fades into emptiness.
Although their last EP went relatively unnoticed, it marked the return of Mortuary Drape, which is confirmed with the excellent Black Mirror. Old School influences age well, and they continue to haunt the band’s riffs to perfection!
90/100