E.P. Review: Mortuary Drape - Wisdom Vibration Repent
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
Mortuary Drape are a considerable name in the world of extreme metal, or at least they ought to be. Considering their 1986 formation in Piedmont, Italy and arguably one of the very first truly extreme metal acts outside the United States, it feels like Mortuary Drape often get swept under the rug when people tally up the most significant extreme metal acts. The late 80s saw a slew of Demos as well as an E.P. as the 90s opened up, but come 1994 the band finally drop their first, and arguably most iconic, album titled All The Witches Dance, infamously portrayed with an album cover sporting a corpse allegedly dug up by the band for photographic purposes. Whatever your views on the band around this formative era of extreme metal, you can’t deny that was something else (Carcass may have sported corpses on their covers but never to the fully graphic extent as Mortuary Drape had done). Since then the band have steadily released one album after another but often with considerable gaps between releases yet inundated with E.P.s, Splits and Compilations. With this mini-album the band are basically releasing their first original material to us since a 2015 Split they did with fellow Italian act Necromass, so this is an honest new beginning in some sense as they have an opportunity to gain a new following of fans of the newer generation. In a way, I could be one of them having never experienced Mortuary Drape before; so let’s see what this E.P. can tell about the band.
A nice and audible bass tone can be heard throughout this E.P. For such an underground, obscure and yet cult band it’s refreshing to see how Mortuary Drape took the time to ensure that their mix was nicely balanced to give all of their instrumental elements their due herein. What I especially appreciated about this bass work though was how it didn’t try and steer attention away from the rest of the band’s performance, it’s clear from the start that the bass is merely one component of the band’s makeup and therefore, is part of the bigger picture. It never feels like the bass has its own agenda and thereby shares the spotlight with the main riffs; it’s clear from the way this E.P. presents itself that the band present the conventional chemistry of each aspect of the band having their role to play, and the bass here is just doing its job. But by harnessing a stronger presence, the band have given the bass a greater call to attention and so as you’re listening you can’t help but be drawn to it.
It’s interesting how the band’s guitar tone isn’t as heavy and total as I thought it would be. When I think of Mortuary Drape I think of some pretty evil stuff, so it amazes me that the band utilise a pretty rudimentary guitar tone barely removed from any standard heavy metal tone of the old school. The difference however is how that tone has been applied to their songwriting, the tone may not be altogether crushing but it always carries this warped and macabre peculiarity with it so while we can easily sink into the riffs and where they may take us, we’re able to buy into the immersive qualities Mortuary Drape possess since their riffs are forever twinged with this malevolence that never once escapes the E.P.. It manages to feel extreme and sinister without any obvious overtones displayed through the riffs, that’s a job well done if you ask me.
Considering how this E.P. isn’t much over 20 minutes long I’m really happy to see the band didn’t just turn their first work of original material in several years into some unnecessary speedfest. That could have easily been the case, speed is a quick and reliable way at getting an audience on your side so it’s good to see they didn’t just resort to that. There’s a healthy amount of variety going on here that enables them to balance bouts of speed with more medium-tempo material that nicely slows things down, allowing us to appreciate what they’ve got for us all the while prepping us for when the real breakneck performances start flying at us. I’m just impressed they actually put time and effort into this E.P. to give it the real impact and persona it deserved instead of just racing us from one track to the next; to me this exemplifies the importance Mortuary Drape applied to this E.P. When you release no original material for several years as an active band, that’s quite a long time, people may become dubious whether you still have it. In many respects longtime fans of the band shall hopefully be happy with the care put into this work; there’s legitimate structure and thought and passion put into this record. I’ve never listened to anything from Mortuary Drape but I came away from this E.P. satisfied.
In conclusion, I think people who aren’t aware of Mortuary Drape will take to this E.P. pretty well. It has enough twists and turns to keep it fresh and while the E.P. doesn’t go super hard on our senses, the way it manages to churn its conventional metal guitar tone in such a way whereby it oozes the macabre and theatrical element is something that I couldn’t get out of my head. It’s a guitar sound that really allowed Mortuary Drape to have their own identity and while the similarities to bands like Mercyful Fate are viable (especially with the cover track included as well), it’s still very clearly 100% Mortuary Drape. There’s no semblance of imitation here, these guys have been at it for much longer than the uninitiated may even realise. As much as I wished this E.P. had gone a touch harder on me I’m still glad with the end result. Mortuary Drape are a cult band for many reasons and the releases of this E.P., showcases they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
