Album Review: Mortual - Altar of Brutality
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Costa Rica is far from the first place one would venture to for quality death metal, yet that is precisely where Mortual take us for their debut full length release. Formed in 2015 out of San Jośe, the band originally went under the moniker of Sepulchrated where they released a Demo the same year. However just a year later the band changed their name to Mortual under which name they continue to be active; another Demo the following year soon gave way to their 2020 EP, Divine Monstrosity, where a Split alongside Sönambula soon came forth. By 2023 the band joined forces with Nuclear Winter Records, their Evil Incarnation EP cementing the deal, which is where we now find Mortual, once again partnered with their record label to release Altar Of Brutality. For many and more like myself, this is Mortual’s first serious chance to show people what they’re made of. Preliminary listens point towards a cacophonous experience and such soundscapes have proven to be amongst my favourite to discover so I went in head first. Due out July 4th, this is Mortual’s Altar Of Brutality.
Credit where it’s due Mortual throw you right into the deep end with a performance that’s blistering and void of empathy; you aren’t ready for such an assault? That’s just too bad. Mortual aren’t here to play nice as they immediately unfurl blast beats and guttural vocals, grabbing your attention from the get-go. But there’s this pervading sense of dread permeating throughout the record so whilst they play with an unbridled fury, there’s something lurking beneath the surface, something truly malicious. It must be said however that Mortual don’t just hurl the singular type of tempo at you, their songwriting is nicely balanced with variety that will keep you engaged since they don’t just press down the speedometer at every instance. I was surprised to hear the band slow their assault periodically, not merely for the sake of pacing, but to also experience some curiously, deliciously rampant licks that only broadened what Mortual could deliver. What they can dish out in just five minutes is amazing.
From the initial outset it might seem this record just a blast beat marathon but it doesn’t take long for the band to showcase that their drums can do more than just berate us over the head. Yes, this record plays most comfortably at speed and is no stranger to just tearing the flesh off our bones, but the drums will suddenly cease blast beats in favour of maybe bass drums or more sporadically interesting patterns, potentially roping the Tom-toms in Kreator-style. The drums demonstrate there’s more than one path to the mountain’s peak and that whilst blast beats are expected they’re far from the sole means death metal can deliver intensity with. I particularly appreciate how they haven’t been mixed in too loudly either; you pick up on the aggressive tempo they set but they blend nicely with the rest of the onslaught, never reaching any kind of domineering stance that could overpower other aspects of the band.
There’s no mistaking that I adore death metal, but encountering death metal that sounds like it’s right on the cusp of snapping that final link in the chain bounding it to sanity? That’s hard to come by. For the most part Mortual’s performance is crushing, organised, demonstrative of a band that’s finely tuned and ready to kill, but you get these sequences where the band fire on all cylinders at once with little restraint keeping them in check, raising the performance to one of otherworldly chaos. Couple together blast beats at their height with wailing guitar solos and vocals that bellow sustained notes and you get a formulae for glistening slaughter. Thankfully this adherence to mania is deployed only select times as an abundance of chaos would lose its enthralment quickly; reserving their most volatile moments for specific times renders their performance with an unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat trepidation, like a detonation you know is coming; the bomb is there, you know it’s ticking, but when will it go off?
I think it also aids the band in how they don’t spend too long on any one part of a song. They can play these longer tracks to no decrease of the engagement you pour into their record, and though their intensity rarely wanes and rarely dips in speed, they’ve always got you on the end of their leash. Had their variety been far more limiting I don’t believe you’d be as on board with their chaotic soundscape as strongly. The band may undergo certain sequences and they will blow the scalp off your head but it’s not for long as they’ll have another phase lined up for you to experience. Tracks are fluid, nothing feels set in stone, you get the idea that during live performances they could include things or alterations on licks that appear on record so you never receive the exact same track twice. Though the band barely lets anything up and you know precisely what this record will entail the moment it starts, you’ll be perfectly on board with it knowing the band don’t rest on their laurels and ensure every track is continuously interesting and invigorating. It’s what makes a six minute track forever on the edge of exploding a greatly repeatable experience.
In conclusion, Mortual offer a record that sees them not open the door but break it off the hinges. If ever a debut album were to open our eyes, Altar Of Brutality is it and absolutely lives up to its title. Only upon the concluding track do the band bring in something more nuanced, with encroaching malevolence, otherwise this record is bonafide carnage given sonic form. Its longevity will be bounded up in how archaic and without mercy its performance is, for Mortual did not come to play games. Though you know each member has their station and understands what their instrumental and vocal responsibility is, there’s always that ever-present, massing jet of steam building to seething reprisal. It’s difficult to impose this sense of boiling extremity whilst maintaining an ordered direction of songwriting. It would be far too easy for the band to just break free, discard all forms of control and just kill us outright but they made sure we could follow along to their path of destruction and just give us momentary glimpses of the devastation they can unleash. These instances underline the band’s psychotic approach to death metal. They’re hungry, ravenous and out for blood. Altar Of Brutality is a record not to be approached with abandon but mired with reverence regarding its capacity for obliteration. Mortual are a band to watch out for.
